(And no, we never thought we’d be writing those words.) After news broke that the former New York City mayor is competing on season seven of “The Masked Singer,” Marvel superhero star Simu Liu is voicing his desire to show off his triple threat talent. The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” actor revealed during Variety’s Actors on Actors studio that he has been wanting to be a “So You Think You Can Dance” contestant for decades....

“I don’t think, frankly that I would’ve taken the job if I knew it was going to be a day-and-date release. I think it’s awful,” Chase said, saying that he was “extremely angry” when he found out about “Many Saints” moving to HBO max. “I still am [extremely angry].” “I mean, I don’t know how much you go into this, you know, like…okay. If I was…one of those guys, if one of those executives was sitting here and I was to start pissing and moaning about it, they’d say, you know, there’s 17 other movies that have the same problem,” Chase said....

“It’s weird to traipse across delicate stuff like that,” she said of its real-life background. “We all know there are people still alive that are incredibly enmeshed in this and intimately related to this story. I could never become a completely different person. I think that she was somebody who just felt so explosively alive that, in order to do her justice, I had to become so explosively alive that I had to be a larger part of myself in order to remain impulsive and truly present....

Wait, why is “Dune” being invoked in a “Star Trek: Discovery” review? Because “Trek” has often struggled with the exact opposite: it’s at its most delicate whenever it comes to an ending. Some of its season finales are all-time-great episodes of television — “The Best of Both Worlds,” “Call to Arms,” “Tears of the Prophets,” “Scorpion” — and others are far, far from greatness. (Just see the “Star Trek: Picard” Season 1 finale....

The Skywalker Saga might’ve come to an end, but there’s a new “Star Wars” era you’re going to need to know a lot more about as Lucasfilm and Disney enter the next stage of the “Star Wars” universe: the High Republic. While some filmed “Star Wars” content will eventually take place in this never-before-explored time period — including the forthcoming series from Leslye Headland, “The Acolyte” — the main introduction to the High Republic will be in the form of books and graphic novels....

“When I was growing up, we did not learn about our own history unfortunately, which is why ‘Roots’ was so popular,” McQueen said, referring to the multiple Emmy-winning 1977 television miniseries. “Anything about any kind of Black history, even if it wasn’t great, or even if it wasn’t necessarily positive, Black people would flock to the television. I remember the streets were empty when ‘Roots’ was on because we were not visible in any way....

When it was announced that Tatum and Soderbergh would be reteaming for a third movie titled “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” everyone knew to expect the unexpected. So fans shouldn’t be surprised that the new film takes inspiration from Bob Fosse. Speaking to Variety, Soderbergh described “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” as “a variation on ‘All That Jazz.’” Much of the sequel is inspired by Tatum’s experience working on the “Magic Mike Live” show, so it makes sense that the film would resemble Fosse’s autobiographical musical about balancing his film and theatre directing careers....

WarnerMedia is readying to launch CNN+ in the spring, adding another true-life player to a corporate roster that includes HBO Max, familiar doc player CNN Films, and soon, Discovery. And a film released by one of Disney’s divisions could end up in theaters, and/or Disney+ or Hulu, under the banner of National Geographic Documentary Films, a Hulu Original, or ABC News. Confused? So are many in the business who work outside the halls of these big players....

In a letter shared with media and other prospective guests, festival director Tabitha Jackson details what’s to come for next year’s edition — which requires that all in-person attendees must be fully vaccinated. Specific procedures and protocol will be announced closer to the festival, but for now, take a look at what Jackson had to say about Sundance’s return to in-person festivities: Dear Friends, This time last year, I wrote to share some early thoughts about how we were approaching my first Sundance Film Festival as director — and the first Sundance to be held in the midst of a pandemic....

A staff memo penned by new Sundance CEO Joana Vicente announced that the Sundance Interdisciplinary Program and Film Music Program would be discontinued. Digital endeavor Sundance Collab will downsize to shift its focus to networking. “There is no easy way to deliver this message,” Vicente opened the letter, citing COVID-19 pandemic-related cutbacks. “We now must take additional measures to cut costs and reduce the scope of our operations to ensure a strong foundation for our future work and to set ourselves up for continued success....

As IndieWire previously reported, in January a group of Muslim American filmmakers submitted a letter to Sundance voicing their concerns about the movie, which was part of the U.S. Documentary Competition. Coughlin and Ahmad were among the Sundance staffers copied on the email, along with festival director Tabitha Jackson and director of programming Kim Yutani, but neither Coughlin nor Ahmad participated in a follow-up meeting with the letter’s authors over Zoom....

The theatrical landscape is harsh and barren. Sundance is virtual for the second year in a row. Arthouse releases flatline around the country; so do awards-season titles. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” dominates the multiplexes, Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” dominates the discourse, and everything else looks like an asterisk. Let’s not kid ourselves. These are bleak times for almost any movie without an eight-figure marketing budget and/or the algorithmic power of a major streamer....

Thankfully, there won’t be a shortage of movies. In the process of researching our annual Sundance wish list, IndieWire had no trouble finding 50 movies that we hope make the cut in this year’s lineup. Filmmakers have started to hear back from the festival and the full selection is expected to go public next month, but in the meantime, here’s a look at several strong contenders for a most unusual edition of America’s most prominent festival....

After Winkler’s son and fellow producer of the “Creed” franchise David Winkler published the memoir “The Arrangement: A Love Story,” Stallone shared his one-star review of the book on Instagram, captioning, “You know I love reading and I’ve read thousands of books but I have to say THIS one is by far the worst! If you ever run out of toilet paper PLEASE by this one you won’t be disappointed....

Sudeikis, one of series co-creators and an executive producer, was the loudest creative voice when it came to building the ensemble, which meant he had final say in every casting decision. His steadfast vision facilitated Park’s search. “It was all about how Jason perceived the roles. All I needed to do was have a quick chat with him about what he wanted and then it was clear,” she told IndieWire from London....

Director Joe Wright’s lavish adaptation of the 2019 off-Broadway musical, written by Dinklage’s wife Erica Schmidt, finds the actor embodying Cyrano de Bergerac as a swashbuckling 17th century wordsmith who buries his attraction to childhood friend Roxanne (Haley Bennett) by helping an inarticulate guardsman (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) romance the woman by writing love letters for him. (United Artists releases the movie this fall, with the Telluride launch clearly designed to kickstart an Oscar campaign for Dinklage as Best Actor....

Though the festivals have pared down the size of their lineups amid the pandemic, there’s still plenty for buyers to choose from, from discovery titles to those with bankable elements. Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn’s “Official Competition” features Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz in a rare appearance on screen together; it still has North American rights available ahead of its Venice premiere. In “Lakewood,” Phillip Noyce directs Naomi Watts as a mother racing to her child during an active-shooter incident, it premieres at TIFF....

Beyond “Terrifier 2” — which just held onto a domestic top 10-box office spot in its fifth weekend — last Saturday’s live stream of the “2022 League of Legends World Championship” made $405,000 from just over 400 locations. A recent live stream of two Coldplay concerts in Buenos Aires made over $1 million, just missing the top 10 for its weekend. Fathom’s ongoing showings of the MET Opera and its recent Studio Ghibli Fest continue to perform, in some cases better than pre-pandemic levels....

Clearly, the Academy is trying to serve its burgeoning ranks by not continuing its recent sped-up growth rate. To that end, in June 2021 this year’s growth in membership will be limited to roughly half that of recent years. Ahead of this change, the Academy’s Board of Governors voted on branch-specific guidelines to be applied in determining this year’s new membership invitees. Oscar winners and nominees will be considered without limitation by applicable branches....

The venue’s application and intention of adding more food offerings were previously known, but new details have emerged of its possible rebranding as the Cinerama Hollywood. Decurion Corporation, previously the parent company for Arclight and Pacific Theaters, remains the owner. The reopening is still a work in progress. Industry sources tell IndieWire at the earliest the theater could unshutter will be in 2023. Getting the license is a key early step in a lengthy process....