Earlier: After launching an investigation into “Justice League” star Ray Fisher’s claims that director Joss Whedon and producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg “grossly abused their power” on set, Warner Bros. issued a statement on Friday. Fisher first made accusations against Whedon, who helmed reshoots and post-production on the DC tentpole, back in July. He tweeted that Whedon’s “on-set treatment of the cast and crew of ‘Justice League’ was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” and that Johns and Berg enabled their collaborator....

With the help of the animation studio Black Women Animate, the network is running a series of ads aimed at targeting specific women’s issues, from the pay gap to body liberation. Voiced by heavy-hitters like “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee and “The Misery Index” host Jameela Jamil, the ads hope to make audiences “choose to challenge” these issues. WarnerMedia has done campaigns like this in the past, but what they were looking for this was an added emphasis on issues created by the pandemic....

Chloé Zhao’s Oscar contender “Nomadland” premiered to critical acclaim at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, and now it’s available for viewers to stream at home on Hulu. Beginning Friday, Feb. 19, the film will run on IMAX and regular screens in areas where movie theaters are open, and will be available to stream at the same time on Hulu. There’s no additional purchase necessary; like 2020’s “Palm Springs,” “Nomadland” will premiere on the streaming service’s regular tier....

As any studio or streamer knows, spending guarantees nothing. The real trick is spending on what people want to watch while producing the volume necessary to keep them hooked. That’s a constant and evolving balancing act in its own right, but the more money means more attempts for success. IndieWire compiled a list of major streamers/studios and and ranked them in order of their respective content spends. Some numbers are specific, others are estimates....

The psychological thriller, now streaming, stars Kiernan Shipka as a Los Angeles newcomer who becomes the assistant to an ambitious studio executive played by Diane Kruger. Inspired by the 1994 film of the same name, “Swimming with Sharks” gender-swapped its two lead characters for a female-driven story. “My feeling was if I could use this world as a jumping-off point, but have it be told through the eyes of two very complex women, there would be something there,” writer-producer Robertson told Black Book Magazine....

After “The Order of Myths,” Brown was drawn like a magnet to the unfolding search for the Clotilda, along with her “The Order of Myths” consultant, African American studies professor and folklorist Kern Jackson, who became the co-writer and co-producer of “Descendant.” “We never stopped talking,” Brown said. In early 2018, in Africatown, they found the wrong ship, dubbed the Notilde, but the news went global. One morning in Los Angeles, SXSW impresario and her long-time film producer Louis Black told Brown: “Margaret, are you crazy?...

Chart-topping song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” is not the official 2022 Oscars submission for the Disney film, and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda is just fine with that. “I’m still proud of ‘Dos Oruguitas’ as the submission,” Miranda told Variety. “When those are the parameters, you have to pick the thing that best exemplifies the spirit of the movie, and it contains all of it inside this song — as opposed to a journey of a particular character....

That actor, of course, is… Jim Carrey. As Will Smith’s slap continues to reverberate across popular culture, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” has made its way to theaters, with Carrey’s return as the gonzo mustache-twirling villain Dr. Robotnik quite possibly serving as his swan song. In an Access Hollywood interview promoting the release, Carrey said he was “fairly serious” about retirement, chalking up the decision to his “quiet life” as a painter....

It might be shocking to see Disney+ host The Punisher, an antihero who’s been known to vanquish his enemies with a sledgehammer, but that shift may signal something even more significant. Once upon a time, Disney+ was supposed to be the family-friendly streamer and Hulu its more mature and complex cousin. With R-rated content, Disney+ changes its branding barrier — and that may also reflect a change in Hulu’s future as a standalone streaming service....

Per an exclusive in The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder, who will co-write and direct the upcoming film, has set the movie at Netflix, which was also home to the director’s zombie action-adventure film, “Army of the Dead.” Snyder has long had an interest in creating a film inspired by Kurosawa and “Star Wars.” News broke in 2013 that Snyder was developing a Kurosawa-inspired “Star Wars” film that would’ve been loosely inspired by the classic 1954 film “Seven Samurai” where Jedi Knights and lightsabers would be used instead of ronin and samurai swords....

“People often forget — which is understandable because I’ve been playing 16 since I was 16, you know — [but] I am grown,” Zendaya said on “People (the TV Show!).” “I knew that, as I grow and as I evolve, there would be that moment where I could play someone my own age.” Washington shared similar thoughts on the matter during an interview with Variety earlier this month, saying he “wasn’t concerned” about being 12 years older than Zendaya because the “Euphoria” actress “is a woman....

Almost 15 years since the premiere of M. Night Shyamalan’s oft-spoofed flop “The Happening,” lead star Zooey Deschanel is back defending her role in the 2008 box office bomb. In an interview with The Guardian using fan-requested questions, Deschanel joked that “The Happening” was “pretty universally not loved” despite Shyamalan’s best attempts. “The director, M. Night Shyamalan – Night – had a strong vision and we were all trying to do what he wanted,” Deschanel explained....

Prime Video’s series, “A League of Their Own,” despite being inspired by Penny Marshall’s iconic 1992 film of the same name, may share more in common with Billy’s encouraging life lesson than any prior sports story. Co-created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson (who also stars), the hourlong drama is still set in the 1940s and follows a team of women who compete in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League....

Kirk discussed his intentions for creating the film, the news media and government’s roles in influencing public perception of the War on Terror, and the domestic impacts of America’s foreign policy in a recent interview with IndieWire. “When we decided to make this film, we stepped back and looked across the 20 years and asked what the key moments were and connected those dots,” Kirk said. “The throughline is the increasing polarization and distrust of the government....

“We’re starting with a nobody,” series creator Tony Gilroy told IndieWire over Zoom. “How does a nobody, absolute nobody, forgotten, careless nobody, become this incredible person? I’m not going to call him a messianic character, but there is an aspect of it that is a journey of someone who has a destiny.” “Andor” finds Cassian at a distinct low point in his life, grappling with repressed childhood trauma and an adult life that has veered from his limited aspirations....

The American myth-making machine’s love for pumping out heroes, like so many cape-wearing sausages, finds its antithesis in “Argentina, 1985,” an entertaining biopic about recent Argentine history that takes the baton from Shakespeare’s idea that “some men have greatness thrust upon them.” This is very much the case for Julio Strassera (Ricardo Darín), a family man who is aghast at his appointment as lead prosecutor in what became known as “The Trial of the Juntas....

But something clicked. MTV Documentary Films acquired the movie last summer and launched a successful awards campaign that resulted in “Ascension” getting nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar. Suddenly, Kingdon’s audacious immersion into this widely misunderstood side of China’s impact on the global economy became the seminal documentary on the subject for Western viewers. That’s significant in part because as “Ascension” lingers in its settings, which range from a fabric shop that makes “Keep America Great” hats to a training school for butlers, it doesn’t bring a critical eye to its subject....

Warner Bros. Discovery unveiled the trailer for DC’s “Black Adam” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the titular anti-hero and arch-nemesis of Shazam. “Black Adam” also stars Noah Centineo and Quintessa Swindell, who both were in attendance at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 26 for the trailer premiere. Aldis Hodge plays hero Hawkman, the leader of the Justice Society of America, while Pierce Brosnan taps into the morally ambiguous Doctor Fate, a member of the Justice Society imparted with the powers of sorcery....

“Bridesmaids” itself was originally written to be far more absurdist, according to the pair. “When we were running around to find Lillian [the bride, played by Maya Rudolph], we were going to find a woman lying on the ground. We’re like, “It’s Lillian — she’s dead!” And then we were like, “Oh wait — it’s not Lillian.” And then we just keep running,” said Wiig. In fact, much of how they saw the character of Lillian’s mother, played by Lynne Marie Stewart, was similar to how the characters of Barb and Star were written....

“We wanted to send them on a road trip [to the wedding of Mater’s sister], and make it so that each place they stop was its own mini-adventure,” Purcell told IndieWire. “And that afforded us a lot of opportunity to create all these different, interesting locations, each with its own sensibility, style of music.” Producer Marc Sondheimer added that in spite of the series’ short-form nature, it still contains 65 minutes of content....