Movies

Audiences have been slow to get back to theaters, but those who have recently watched a movie on the big screen have felt safe doing so. According to a new study from Fandango that surveyed more than 4,000 of its ticket buyers about their recent cinema experiences, 93% said they were satisfied with their return

Cruella de Vil has always been known for her notorious and outlandish sartorial statements, but how her signature black-and-white looks came to be is a story unto itself. Director Craig Gillespie traces the Disney villain’s origin story in the new live-action feature film “Cruella,” which follows Estella (played by Emma Stone, who also serves as

Amazon founder, chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos said the ecommerce giant’s $8.45 billion bid for MGM was driven by a desire to obtain the storied studio’s intellectual property — and create new offshoots based on that. “We’re looking forward to reimagining and developing the deep catalog of MGM,” said Bezos, speaking Wednesday at Amazon’s annual

“Infinite,” a sci-fi thriller starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Antoine Fuqua, will arrive on Paramount Plus in time for summer. The film is scheduled to release on June 6. Originally set to premiere theatrically in August, Paramount announced earlier in May that “Infinite” would skip the big screen and debut directly on its budding

Forty years after the release of “Evil Dead,” the supernatural horror trilogy created by Sam Raimi is rising from the ashes. A new installment, titled “Evil Dead Rise,” is in the works at New Line Cinema. Unlike its predecessors, “Evil Dead Rise” is set for release on streamers: HBO Max in the U.S., on Canal

Amazon has released the first official trailer for sci-fi blockbuster “The Tomorrow War,” debuting on July 2 and starring Chris Pratt as Dan Forester, a high school teacher (and military vet) who is recruited by a group of time travelers to fight a war 30 years in the future. “I was trying to save my

The American Film Institute has announced the slate for its hybrid 2021 edition from June 22-27. Titles include the centerpiece screening of Morgan Neville’s “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” while Garrett Bradley’s “Naomi Osaka” will open the festival and “Cusp” is the closing night selection. Held in Silver Spring, MD and on docs.afi.com, the

What’s black and white and red all over? A Dalmatian thief with a diaper rash. Or a scarlet-frocked Disney de-Villainess making her debut in the London tabloids. Starring Oscar winner Emma Stone as the monochrome-coiffed fashionista with a soft spot for puppy fur, “Cruella” takes its cues from the “Wicked” playbook — or more recently,

“RRR” (Roudram Ranam Rudhiram), the upcoming magnum opus from “Baahubali” filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli, has announced several streaming and satellite partners. Once the film completes its theatrical run, currently due to begin Oct. 13, it will stream in the Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages on ZEE5. On Netflix, the film will stream in Hindi, English,

James Bond has a new home: Amazon and MGM announced a definitive merger agreement under which Amazon will acquire MGM for $8.45 billion. MGM, founded in 1924, complements Amazon Studios, which has primarily focused on producing TV programming, the companies said. Amazon will help “preserve MGM’s heritage and catalog of films,” and provide customers with

Two decades before diversity in film and TV went from a minor industry concern to a mandate, Reel Works became a pioneering force in teaching underserved youth about filmmaking and bringing them into the business. On May 26, co-founders Stephanie Walter and John C. Williams will celebrate the nonprofit’s many achievements at the Reel Works

Cartoon Digital, a forum for European digital animation, kicks off today Wednesday with a focus on Italy and executives in attendance from Netflix, Disney, WarnerMedia, Rai Ragazzi, Ubisoft, Entertainment One, Mattel, Gaumont, among other companies. The conference will run entirely online through this Friday, hosted and backed by the government of Sardinia, Italy, in the

Veteran British thespian Glenda Jackson has been recognized as the latest recipient of the Richard Harris Award by the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA). The award is conferred for outstanding contribution by an actor to the British film industry. The award was presented to her by her co-star in the upcoming film “Mothering Sunday,” Josh

Filmmakers have a new reason to rejoice. The U.S. unit of Munich-based camera and imaging giant Arri has expanded its Franz Wieser Grant program, which provides aspiring creatives with access to Arri products and resources. The program will now extend beyond features, shorts and documentaries to encompass photography, live events, worship, and broadcast projects. The

Samuel E. Wright, the actor who voiced Sebastian in “The Little Mermaid,” has died. He was 74. The news of his death was confirmed in a Facebook post on Tuesday by his hometown Montgomery, N.Y. It did not confirm his cause of death. “Today, the Town of Montgomery mourns the loss of Sam Wright,” the

“F9” star John Cena apologized to Chinese fans Tuesday after calling Taiwan a country in a promotional interview, but many viewers in the world’s largest film market have deemed his beseeching appeal for forgiveness insufficient. Speaking with the Taiwanese news channel TVBS earlier this month, the professional wrestler — who has been learning Chinese for

Poorna Jagannathan and Casey Thomas Brown are starring in Megan Griffiths’ “I’ll Show You Mine.” The dramedy, a Duplass Brothers Production, centers on Priya Sura, an author who has made a career of examining her own trauma, as she sits down to interview her nephew Nic for a new book about his history as a

Filmmaker Niki Caro and Charlize Theron are teaming up to develop a feature film about women’s fight for equality in big wave surfing for Netflix. The feature is based on Daniel Duane’s New York Times Magazine article, “The Fight For Gender Equality In One of the Most Dangerous Sports on Earth,” and the four women

“Paper Spiders” opens on a dynamic played out in countless American coming-of-age stories, as bright-eyed high school senior Melanie (Stefania LaVie Owen) and her doting single mother Dawn (Lili Taylor) tour the USC college campus on which the former has her heart set. As Melanie gawps in wonder, Dawn surveys the place with a critical

Independent filmmaker and educator Deborah LaVine has been tapped to run the film program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). Lavine, who will serve as dean of the school of filmmaking effective July 1, joins UNCSA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) where she was program director of the

Forget “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” because on June 11 and 12, audiences at the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park will be singing a different tune, as the Frameline Film Fest takes over the ballpark with special screenings of “In the Heights” and “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.” For its 2021 edition — dubbed

Jerrod Carmichael is the latest star to sign on for Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming adaptation of “Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone. Based on Alasdair Grey’s novel, the film from Searchlight, Element Pictures and Film4 also stars Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef. In the Victorian-set tale — with a Frankenstein-esque bent — Stone plays a

After being shut down for over six months, French cinemas bounced back in a spectacular way, drawing 2.1 million admissions in six days after reopening on May 19. The results are particularly strong considering the current restrictions on cultural venues in France, notably an audience capacity of 35% and a 9pm curfew. While there are

Oscar-winning filmmaker Travon Free (“Two Distant Strangers”) is among the panelists for the inaugural “HBCU in LA – Hollywood Summit,” presented by the Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP). The free, four-day virtual program, developed by the EICOP (the non-profit educational arts workforce development program), will bring together talent and executives from across the entertainment

Edgar Wright’s horror-thriller “Last Night in Soho” released a hair-raising trailer, set for release on Oct. 22. The London-set psychological thriller stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie and Matt Smith. Wright directed “Last Night in Soho” from a script he co-penned with “Penny Dreadful” writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns. The mind-bending flick will follow the twists and turns

With his feature directorial debut, “Boogie,” Eddie Huang wanted to challenge his audience. “It was always white people in school that were like, ‘Oh, I love “Catcher in the Rye,” I love Holden Caulfield,’” says Huang. “And I’m like, well, let me present you with a quite unlikable Asian character and see if you love

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled much of its feature lineup including early highlights from several sidebars for this year’s online 25th edition, with the full program to be announced in July. Fantasia’s preliminary lineup is highlighted by a glut of world and premieres including Edoardo Vitaletti’s “The Last Thing Mary Saw”; fest regular

In today’s Global Bulletin, U.K.’s National Theatre filmed plays to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.K. and Ireland; Mubi boards U.K., Ireland rights for Paul Verhoeven’s Cannes title “Benedetta”; Anton Corbijn directs Sergei Polunin ballet documentary “Dancer II”; BANFF sets indigenous screen industry summit; Bild Studios and Lux Machina form Virtual Production partnership;

The Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) has called on the national government to allow the reopening of cinemas that have been closed under a state of emergency declaration. In a statement, signed by executives of companies including Toho, Shochiku, Toei and Kadokawa, Eiren argues that the closure was ordered despite a lack of

If you happened to watch Zack Snyder’s “Army of the Dead” this weekend, you might have noticed something was not quite right. You weren’t alone — quite a few Twitter and Reddit users noticed that some scenes appear to have dead pixels, or completely white spaces, on various parts of the screen. Army of the