Antoine Fuqua and Will Smith will move production on their big-budget, runaway slave thriller “Emancipation” out of Georgia in protest over the state’s controversial new voting restrictions. The announcement continues the economic fallout from Gov. Brian Kemp and the state legislature’s decision to pass new regulations that critics maintain amount to voter suppression, aimed at reducing the turnout […]
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There’s been no shortage of drama leading up to this evening, with BAFTA president Prince William, who was set to appear on both nights of the awards, dropping out following the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip. Saturday’s broadcast of the craft prizes was also delayed by an hour to accommodate schedule changes from the […]
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After a year of closures, false starts and seemingly endless waiting, Warner Bros./Legendary’s “Godzilla vs. Kong” has given the box office and movie theater owners reason to cheer. Since its release on Wednesday, the MonsterVerse film has earned a five-day opening of $48.5 million, with a $32.2 million estimated Friday-to-Sunday total. While that is less […]
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General Motors, one of the nation’s biggest advertisers, said Thursday it would quadruple the percentage of its advertising dollars that go to Black-owned media outlets between now and 2025. GM’s new effort is a sign of the scrutiny and pressure that corporate giants are facing to spread their corporate spending around a wider array of […]
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Netflix is plunking down an astounding $450 million for the rights to “Knives Out 2” and “Knives Out 3,” the next two follow-ups to the 2019 murder mystery, sources tell Variety. The films will reunite director Rian Johnson and star Daniel Craig, who teamed up so memorably on the first detective story. The first “Knives Out” was produced […]
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Producers of the 93rd annual Academy Awards updated nominees this morning on preparations for the show and the burning question of the moment: Will nominees have to attend in person, or is there another alternative? The answer to that is, for those considerable number of nominees stuck in Europe and other locales around the globe, […]
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Jeremy Strong has found his next role in Jonas Salk, the famed virologist that developed the widely-used polio vaccine. Strong will play the famed researcher in the feature Splendid Solution from Bron Studios and 21 Laps. The project is based on Jeffrey Kluger’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name, which follows Salk as he begins his […]
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Armie Hammer has been dropped from another film following accusations of sexual assault against him, this time the Mads Mikkelsen thriller “The Billion Dollar Spy,” an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap. Hammer joined the film, which will be directed by Amma Asante, back in October, but it has not yet begun production […]
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Larry McMurtry, the Texas-born novelist who authored Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment and won an Oscar for co-writing the adapted screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, has died. He was 84. McMurtry died Thursday night of heart failure, his rep Amanda Lundberg told The Hollywood Reporter. He died surrounded by loved ones he lived with, including his longtime writing […]
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Johnny Depp has failed in his attempt to challenge the ruling in the U.K. High Court that he was violent to his former wife Amber Heard. Last year, the actor waged a three-week libel case against the publisher of The Sun newspaper over a 2018 article calling him a “wife beater.” Depp claimed that Heard’s allegations of domestic […]
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Jessica Walter, the sassy actress who excelled at portraying unhinged types, from the obsessed fan of a radio deejay in Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me to nutty matriarchs on Arrested Development and Archer, has died. She was 80. Walter died Wednesday night at home in New York, her daughter, Fox Entertainment executive Brooke Bowman, said. “It is with a […]
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George Segal, the Oscar-nominated actor whose credits range from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Where’s Poppa? to Just Shoot Me! and The Goldbergs, died today in Santa Rosa, CA, of complications from bypass surgery. He was 87. His wife, Sonia Segal confirmed the news. “The family is devastated to announce that this morning George Segal passed away due to complications from bypass […]
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‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,’ ‘Promising Young Woman’ & ‘Ted Lasso’ Win at Writers Guild Awards 2021
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “Promising Young Woman” took top narrative film honors on Sunday at the 73rd annual Writers Guild of America Awards. Kal Penn hosted the virtual presentation that cemented “Borat” and “Promising Young Woman” as among the frontrunners for Oscar screenplay wins next month. Amazon Studios’ “Borat” prevailed for adapted screenplay for a […]
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Glenn Weiss is returning to direct this year’s Oscars ceremony armed with a unique plan to make the show more closely resemble a movie than TV. “Our plan is that this year’s telecast will look like a movie not a television show, and Glenn has embraced this approach and come up with ideas of his […]
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Oscar show producers Steven Soderbergh, Stacey Sher and Jesse Collins have sent a letter to all nominees that gives a glimpse into exactly what their plans for the scaled-down ceremony at downtown L.A.’s Union Station will look and feel like. It also lays down a couple of rules for those nominees as well. First and foremost, the 93rd annual Academy Awards is definitively not going to be […]
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Andy Garcia is getting ready for a walk down the aisle. Garcia has closed a deal to star in Warner Bros.’s remake of Father of the Bride, which will center on a Cuban-American family. He will also executive produce. Gaz Alazraki, who helmed Club de Cuervos, has been tapped to direct the feature, which is being produce by Dede […]
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In this delayed and elongated awards season, the Oscar nominations for the 93rd Academy Awards are finally here. Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas announced the full list of nominees in all 23 categories on Monday morning. Eight films this year were nominated for Best Picture, those being “The Father,” “Judas and the Black Messiah,” […]
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Since forming production label Higher Ground in 2018, Barack and Michelle Obama have brandished a golden touch when it comes to documentaries, having backed last year’s Oscar winner American Factory and this year’s shortlisted contender Crip Camp. But a pair of recent moves by the company raised eyebrows around town. On Feb. 17, Higher Ground and […]
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George Clooney and Julia Roberts will star in “Ticket to Paradise,” a new romantic comedy that will reunite the “Ocean’s Eleven” stars and longtime friends. Ol Parker (“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) will direct the film for Universal Pictures and Working Title. Cameras will roll on the movie later this year. The actors will play a divorced couple […]
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Kevin Hart has reteamed up with John Hamburg, who wrote the comedian’s hit, Night School, for Me Time, a comedy set up at Netflix. Hamburg, perhaps best known for writing the Meet the Parents comedies and directing Along Came Polly in the early 2000s, wrote the script and is directing and producing. Hart is also producing with Bryan Smiley and the duo’s […]
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Oscar-, Golden Globe- and four-time Emmy-winner Regina King is set to star in and produce “Shirley,” the feature film biopic about Shirley Chisholm, America’s first Black congresswoman. The film, produced by Participant, will be written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker John Ridley, with production expected to begin later this year. The story tracks Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign, a groundbreaking […]
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Christopher Plummer has passed away at 91, his family has confirmed. He passed peacefully at his home in Connecticut, with Elaine Taylor, his wife and true best friend for 53 years by his side. Lou Pitt, his longtime friend and manager of 46 years said; “Chris was an extraordinary man who deeply loved and respected his […]
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Donald Trump has pre-emptively submitted his resignation from SAG-AFTRA as the union moved through a disciplinary process that could have resulted in expelling him. On Wednesday, the former president sent an exclamation mark-laden letter to union president Gabrielle Carteris announcing his resignation. “I no longer wish to be associated with your union,” Trump wrote after enumerating what […]
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The 2021 Golden Globe nominations raised a number of eyebrows with unexpected inclusions and omissions among this year’s nominees. In terms of surprises, Sia’s yet to be released Music, which has already generated controversy as the musician chose to cast Maddie Ziegler as an autistic girl instead of an actor on the spectrum, snagged an unexpected two nominations for best motion […]
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Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible) and Jai Courtney (The Suicide Squad) are set to star in action-thriller Black Site from the producers of John Wick, Hotel Mumbai and Bait. Black Site centers on a group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret CIA black site who must fight for their lives in a cat-and-mouse game against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. […]
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