Do you remember "Kraven the Hunter," the movie that is coming out next week as part of Sony's ongoing attempt to build a cinematic universe using Spider-Man characters without ever actually showing Spider-Man? Well, Sony would very much like it if you did remember, because, as mentioned, the movie comes out in a week. To celebrate the occasion, the studio has even released the first eight minutes from "Kraven the Hunter" online, providing audiences a taste of what the titular Spider-Man villain looks like in this film.

In case you need a refresher, and honestly, why wouldn't you, here's the deal with Kraven the Hunter. Played by possible future James Bond actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Kraven is the son of a former Russian crime boss who is extremely cold and harsh toward his kids. Kraven was not only raised as an expert killer and hunter, but he also seems to...

In a Thanksgiving feast for the ages, movie ticket sales hit an all-time holiday high at the domestic box office, led by Walt Disney Animation’s instant mega-hit Moana 2.

Disney’s fantasy musical served up a mammoth holiday domestic debut of $225.2 million, according to final numbers (that’s up from Sunday’s estimate of $221 million). Smashing numerous records, the Moana sequel boasts the biggest five-day debut in history — besting The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($204.6 million) — as well as delivering both the top Thanksgiving opening of all time and the biggest Thanksgiving gross of all time by a mile, beating Frozen ($93.6 million) and Frozen II ($125 million). And its three-day weekend haul of $139.7 million is the biggest opening ever for a Walt Disney Animation title.

Overseas, Moana 2 sailed to $165.8 million — Sunday’s estimate was $165.3 million — for a global start of $389 million to boast the biggest global launch of all time...

Indonesia’s film industry took a significant step forward with the launch of Jaff Market 2024, the country’s first large-scale film market, which kicked off Tuesday at the Jogja Expo Center in Yogyakarta, commonly known as Jogja.

The three-day event, running Dec. 3-5 as part of the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff), brings together more than 100 film companies from both domestic and international markets, positioning Indonesia to strengthen its foothold in Southeast Asia’s entertainment sector.

“Jaff Market is a strategic step that brings together over 100 national and international film companies. This participation highlights the industry’s great enthusiasm for strengthening Indonesia’s film ecosystem,” said Culture Minister Dr. Fadly Zon at the opening ceremony.

The market emerges after two years of development, backed by the Ministry of Culture through Dana Indonesiana funding. The initiative gathered momentum through focus group discussions in the post-pandemic period, securing support across the industry...

Ruth Beckermann’s compassionate documentary is testament to a diverse group of delightful seven-year-olds and the brilliance of their dedicated teacher

There are some big personalities in the class of seven-year-olds in an inner city Vienna primary school in this rather lovely and compassionate documentary. It follows three years in the life of the class, taught for the entire time by one teacher. Ilkay Idiskut is young and dedicated, and she combines the best of teaching styles: a warm and patient listener, but insisting on structure and discipline. The little faces of her pupils look crestfallen when they disappoint her. Ilkay is too good a teacher to have favourites – and the film’s title, Favoriten, is the name of the ethnically diverse district in Vienna where the school is located.

The kids are at that delightful unselfconscious age when they dance like no one is watching, wiggling and wriggling with...

India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival (Ciff) has announced its return for a second edition, set to run March 20-23, 2025 in Chandigarh, alongside its rebranded market component CinéV-chd.

The festival, which drew industry heavyweights like Karan Johar, Boman Irani, Sudhir Mishra, Shekhar Kapur, and Richa Chadha in its first outing, is expanding through a new partnership with the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla).

The collaboration, dubbed CinéV-iffla, will integrate Cinevesture-curated South Asian projects into Iffla’s Industry Days program, which runs during Iffla’s 23rd edition, scheduled for May 6-10, 2025. The program connects South Asian filmmakers with Hollywood producers through pitch competitions, panels, masterclasses and networking events.

CinéV-chd marks the first in a planned series of film markets designed to connect film professionals with investors and distributors. It is the brainchild of Nina Lath, who previously headed Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest co-production market, from 2006 to 2018.

“Film...

“Kantara” star Rishab Shetty has signed on to portray Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in director Sandeep Singh’s upcoming historical drama “The Pride of Bharat: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj,” a biopic of revered 17th century Indian ruler Shivaji Bhonsle.

The Indian National Film Award-winning actor adds this period epic to an already packed lineup that includes “Kantara 2” (2025) and “Jai Hanuman” (2026), with “The Pride of Bharat” slated for release in January 2027.

Singh has produced several acclaimed films including Toronto title, boxing biopic “Mary Kom” (2014), where he served as co-producer, Asia Pacific Screen Awards-winning gay rights drama “Aligarh” (2015) and slum soccer film “Jhund” (2022). He made his directorial debut with ZEE5 streaming original, the transgender-themed “Safed” (2023).

The Shivaji biopic will be his first theatrical feature film as director. The production will employ international technical talent and advanced visual effects to bring the story of the legendary warrior king to screen.

Shivaji (1630-1680), who hailed from the Hindu religion,...

Indonesian content powerhouse Visinema Studios is developing “Kancil,” an animated feature that reimagines local folklore in a sci-fi universe, presenting the project at the inaugural Jaff Market in Yogyakarta (Jogja).

The project, directed by Adriano Rudiman (“Domikado”) and produced by Novia Puspa Sari (“Arini by Love.inc”), follows Arkana, a 14-year-old boy who must master an ancient super suit called Kancil to rescue his kidnapped green giant brother, Cakil, while navigating a complex relationship with his domineering stepfather.

“What interests me most is telling a personal story about a son who doesn’t fit in with his family – literally,” says Rudiman. “Despite the vast, otherworldly setting, the story remains grounded in this universal struggle to belong and be accepted for who we are.”

The project, written by Widya Arifianti and Ziyanshafa, builds on an existing webtoon adaptation. Visinema Studios sees “Kancil” as an IP with potential for expansion across multiple formats,...

Spoilers ahead for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" season 1, episode 2.

"Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" episode 1 begins with an unfortunate space pirate raid, but soon moves away from the action. The majority of the episode is spent introducing the central quartet of youngsters and the secluded world they live in, only sending them into hyperspace at the very end. 

Episode 2, on the other hand, fills the kids' and the viewers' eyes and ears with the wonders and horrors of the galaxy. it focuses on Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), Kb (Kyriana Kratter), and Neel (Robert Timothy Smith) adjusting to their new situation, meeting new characters, and exploring new places. From the mysterious Onyx Cinder spaceship and its irritable droid first mate Sm-33 (voiced by Nick Frost) to the sordid space station they all end up on, the main characters get to experience new corners of the "Star Wars" galaxy along with the viewer.

This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" season 1, episode 2.

Everything can seem dangerous when you're a kid lost in space, and the pirate droid Sm-33 makes no exceptions. "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" certainly takes care to frame him as a potential threat. When the clunky, partially malfunctioning robot with an alien critter residing in its empty eye socket regains power and shuffles into the frame, you'd be forgiven for thinking you've accidentally tuned in to a space-themed horror movie and witnessing the main antagonist.

Fortunately, Sm-33 -- a not-so-subtle nod to Mr. Smee from "Peter Pan," no doubt -- is firmly on the main characters' side, at least after one of the show's young heroes, Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), convinces him that she's killed the former captain of the Onyx Cinder and taken charge. Though old and decrepit, he proves to be a useful (if unnerving) ally who...

When the first look at the Disney+ series "Skeleton Crew" hit the scene, "Star Wars" fans were finally united on the most important subject of our time — the fact that we are ready to fall on the lightsaber if it means honoring and protecting Neel (Robert Timothy Smith). The new coming-of-age adventure series set after the events of "Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi" centers on four younglings who accidentally take off in a starship known as the Onyx Cinder and wind up lost in the galaxy before linking up with a Force-sensitive pirate named Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law). One of those younglings is Neel, the only non-human in the core group from their (at the start of the series) unidentified planet. Neel's best friend is the human boy Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers), and from all that we've seen of their world, humans and aliens coexist in harmony.

This article contains spoilers for the first episode of "Star Wars: The Skeleton Crew."

Jon Watts, perhaps best known for his work bringing Spider-Man to life in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, incorporates his and co-creator Christopher Ford's love of "Star Wars" and '80s movies to the forefront in "Skeleton Crew." While the brand new show on Disney+ tells the tale of pirates in the era of the New Republic, it also plays the backdrop for a tale of four kids who find a starship and are accidentally whisked away from their home with no way to get back. It takes so many of its cues from the kids-in-adventurous peril tropes of '80s Amblin movies produced or directed by Steven Spielberg. If you're looking for the other side of the grit pendulum-like "Andor," it might sometimes be easy to forget that it's "Star Wars," but "Skeleton Crew" remains...

The first major awards show of the season has spoken, and the future looks bright for A24 as A Different Man took best feature and Sing Sing top acting honours for Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin at the 34th Gotham Awards on Monday night.

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora, which began the night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York with the most nominations on four, went home empty-handed. However Sean Baker’s madcap romantic comedy is expected to figure prominently as awards season continues.

Aaron Schimberg’s dark comedy A Different Man premiered in Sundance and stars Sebastian Stan...

The first offical “real” awards show of the 2025 Oscar season, The Gotham Awards, has unveiled a list of winners. And in a season that has millions of questions and many nervous contenders, the five-member industry committees that picked each winner provided some tea leaves of what may or may not turn out to be genuine Oscar players. And the big winner of the night was a massive surprise, “A Different Man.” A win so surprising the director admitted it would have been hubris to prepare an acceptance speech.

Continue reading ‘A Different Man’ Stuns Taking Best Feature At 2024 Gotham Awards at The Playlist.

Spoilers ahead for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" episode 1.

The "Star Wars" universe has always been full of mysteries. Even planets have had their share, whether it was a mysterious Jedi temple on the surface, or the location of the planet itself. "Star Wars Rebels" showed us the hidden location of the secondary home world of the Lasat people. "Ahsoka" took us to the planet Peridea in a mythical other galaxy. "The Force Awakens" took us on a journey to Ach-To, a planet no one thought existed, which was home to what was thought to be the site of the first Jedi temple. The planetary oddities aren't terribly frequent in the "Star Wars" lore, but when you have a show rooted in pirates, you always need that mysterious island with an X marking the spot to a mystical treasure. And what better place to drop that X than the planet that the kids call home,...

Spoilers for "Star Wars: Skeleton Crew" follow.

Even though the "Star Wars" universe of series, films, and the like take place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, they share plenty of familiar elements with struggles in the human world of Earth. There's romances aplenty and heartbreak, as well as strife as people of different classes attempt to realize their dreams. Oh, and there's also parental problems, primarily (but not entirely) comprised of daddy issues. Luke Skywalker didn't know his own mother, who died in childbirth, and he only realized that his father Anakin was actually the terrifying villain (who eventually breaks good) Darth Vader right after Vader chopped off his hand. And it's not just limited to the original trilogy, either; leaving aside the fact that Luke's mom Amidala dies in childbirth, Anakin himself only has a mother and seems to have been the product of...

Nostalgia is killing movies (and TV), which we know. Yet it’s not quickening its own extinction how you might typically imagine nostalgia destroying a “Star Wars” story. The new series, “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew,” created by Jon Watts (Marvel’s “Spider-Man” trilogy) and Christopher Ford (“Cop Car”), for example, isn’t a shameless remix of other Lucasfilm stories like “The Force Awakens,” nor is it laden with fan-service callbacks like “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Read More: Fall 2024 TV Preview: 40 Must-See Series To Watch

Instead, “Skeleton Crew” wishfully pines for the 1980s of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin coming-of-age epoch—the era of wide-eyed wonder, awe and imagination for kids, pre-teens and teenagers ala “The Goonies,” “E.T.” and the likeminded “Explorers,” essentially borrowing the magical tone of those films for a “Star Wars” story.

Continue reading ‘Skeleton Crew’ Review: Nostalgia For The ‘80s Amblin Era Cannot Save This Uninspired ‘Star Wars’ Detour at The Playlist.

"Star Wars" is for kids. Wait, scratch that. "Star Wars" has always been for kids. Fans of a certain age and temperament might want to take that statement as an insult (or even an attack) on their favorite movies, but it's a fact. Don't just take my word for it; no less an authority than the Maker himself, George Lucas, has said as much on numerous occasions over the years. Of course, that's not to say the property has always been the most successful in this regard (who among us could forget the wonder and joy of watching an entire prequel film about taxation and trade disputes?), or that it can't appeal to those of all ages anyway. Still, at their heart, the adventures of Luke Skywalker and the timeless tale of a Rebellion overthrowing an Empire were conceived as broadly and simplistically as possible -- not to cater to...

A long time ago, back when Lucasfilm first shared plans to expand the “Star Wars” universe via live-action streaming television, the most exciting part was its limitless potential. While each movie traveled to new worlds, utilizing new doodads and revealing new creatures, there’s still a cap to how much of the galaxy you can see in a two-hour film. And that time limit only grew tighter when so much screentime was taken up by nostalgia: revisiting old worlds, reintroducing old creatures, and wielding old doodads. But unlike the big-screen franchise, not everything on the small-screen had to bend back to the Skywalker trilogy — or so it seemed, before “The Mandalorian” reintroduced Luke himself and set plans to become a movie of its own.

“Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” is the closest the Disney+ era has come to revisiting the franchise’s galaxy-sized creative potential. Working from a story about a...

The Gotham Awards are often a major predictor of Oscar momentum — but Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light” won’t be repeating its win for Best International Feature this March.

The film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix on its way to becoming one of the most acclaimed films of 2024, was not selected as India’s official submission to the Academy Awards. Instead, the country went with “Lost Ladies,” Kiran Rao’s comedy about two Indian brides who accidentally switch places on the train ride to their new husbands’ homes.

But while “All We Imagine as Light” will not be competing in the Oscar category, Kapadia isn’t bitter about the snub. Speaking to IndieWire on the red carpet of the 34th annual Gotham Awards, the filmmaker explained that she’s happy to see another Indian woman getting a share of the filmmaking glory.

Sean Baker broke some news to IndieWire at the red carpet of the Gotham Awards in New York City December 2. The “Anora” director shared that several of his earlier films are getting Criterion Collection releases — and that he hopes to get his next film off the ground “Asap.”

The Palme d’Or winner has made no secret of his love for Criterion in the past, being one of the first directors to visit the Criterion Closet back in 2015 and sharing his Top 10 titles from the Collection around the same time for Criterion’s website. He also spoke at length to IndieWire about his belief that a love of older movies informs his own skillset as a filmmaker.

But to date, Baker only has one title that’s received a physical Criterion Collection release, his 2004 breakout film “Take Out,” which he co-directed with Shih Ching-Tsou. More, however, are on the way.

We've finally reached the time of the year when everyone dedicates an unnecessary amount of time to arguing over the same, cyclical topics ad nauseam — like whether or not "Die Hard" is a Christmas movie or what film deserves the biggest gift under the tree as the best Christmas movie of all time. Just as hotly debated is what constitutes the "worst" Christmas movie of all time, which is a lot harder to determine depending on what you deem "bad." One film that is frequently in the running for the dishonor is 1985's "Santa Claus: The Movie," directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who also gave us "Supergirl" and the equally polarizing "Jaws 2."

On paper, "Santa Claus: The Movie" has a lot going for it. It's about a man named Claus (David Huddleston) who delivers toys in his small village, eventually becoming Santa Claus after crossing paths with an elf toy-maker,...

Brady Corbet took the 2024 Venice Film Festival — and the nascent Oscar season — by storm with his three-and-a-half hour epic “The Brutalist,” starring Adrien Brody. With the exception of Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” it’s one of the longer films to be in serious Academy Awards contention in recent memory.

But unlike “Flower Moon,” which clocks in just shy of the Corbet film’s 3:35 runtime, “The Brutalist” at least comes with an intermission. And while Scorsese didn’t want one in his film, Corbet clarified the intermission was an intentional choice on his part along with co-writer Mona Fastvold — and not the result of any outside pressure.

“It was always scripted, the intermission,” Corbet told IndieWire on the red carpet of the 2024 Gotham Awards on December 2. “It’s funny, it’s gotten more attention in a way than we expected it to. I personally have a...

A24’s “A Different Man” won best feature at the 2024 Gotham Awards Monday night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Meanwhile, “Sing Sing” swept the acting categories, with Colman Domingo winning for best lead performance and Clarence Maclin for best supporting performance.

Each category for nominations is decided by a different jury of critics, journalists and other industry professionals, and screening links must be provided to all its jury members. An entirely different group determines the winners. That’s in contrast with the Oscars or the BAFTAs, which are determined by actors, filmmakers and other artists who are in the entertainment industry.

In addition to the nominees, the Gothams bestowed special tributes to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Performer Tribute) for “Maria,” Emmy winner Zendaya (Spotlight Tribute) for “Challengers,” Timothée Chalamet and James Mangold (Visionary Tribute) for “A Complete Unknown,” and the...

Indonesian filmmaker Paul Agusta (“Onde Mande!”) is set to present his latest project “All Things Real and Unreal” (Segala Yang Semu Dan Nyata) at the inaugural Jaff Market, running alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival, from Dec. 3-5.

The drama follows Daniel, a 21-year-old college student from Manado, Sulawesi, who turns to sex work in Jakarta to finance his aspirations of social media stardom, despite having his basic needs and tuition covered by his single mother. The narrative unfolds over a day as Daniel, having spent his tuition money, desperately seeks funds through various means, from attempting to sell gifts from clients to seeking new encounters through dating apps.

“I have always wanted to tell the story of male sex workers in Indonesia, specifically in the metropolis of Jakarta,” Agusta said. “Many of the male sex workers in Jakarta do not come from poverty, many come from middle class families.

When the 34th annual Gotham Awards took place in Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Monday, December 2, the Oscar race officially began. The Gothams traditionally occupy a spot on the awards calendar as the first major film-centric ceremony of the season, giving fans their first opportunity to see the year’s biggest stars on the red carpet. The event also marks awards watchers’ first chance to gauge the state of the race.

The night’s top prize went to “A Different Man,” Aaron Schimberg’s A24 body transformation comedy that premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which stars Sebastian Stan as a facially disfigured actor who undergoes an experimental surgery to boost his career, beat out Oscar frontrunners such as Sean Baker’s “Anora” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers.” The win could boost the award chances of both Schimberg and his stars Stan and Adam Pearson.

Anp Films Indonesia’s martial arts drama “The Tiger” makes its market debut at the inaugural Jaff Market, running alongside the Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff) from Dec. 3-5. The project, which showcases the traditional silat martial art style known as pamacan, aims to bring Indonesian cultural heritage to global audiences.

Director Ardiansah Sulistiana’s film centers on a family of silat practitioners in West Java whose secret tiger-style martial art becomes exposed through a viral video, leading to conflict with an outsider determined to claim their heritage.

“Cultural diversity has its own unique appeal, and many Indonesian filmmakers are now creating regional films, even using local languages,” says Sulistiana. “This trend has proven successful, with many films attracting millions of viewers due to the fresh themes they present.”

Producer Aris Nugraha sees the project’s regional specificity as a strength. “This film is about the silat martial arts tradition in a region of Garut,...

Contrary to the "Eleven" in its title, only 10 of the main ensemble actors involved in "Ocean's Eleven" were credited for the movie. Indeed, despite being a major player, then-future Marvel Cinematic Universe star Don Cheadle's name doesn't appear at all in the film's credits.

Cheadle's absence from the credits has confused fans of the Steven Soderbergh heist movie since its release in 2001. The actor was already a known quantity in Hollywood by the time the movie came out, and his character, the questionably Cockney-accented explosives expert Basher Tarr, gets plenty of screen time in the movie. Yet, if you pop over to IMDb, Cheadle is currently the 77th person on the cast credits page for "Ocean's Eleven," under the "uncredited" section after characters with names like "Dog Track Gambler" and "Woman in Casino." What gives? Cheadle himself seems to have rarely spoken about the issue on the record, although...

Silvia Pinal, a Mexican actress known as an icon for her work during the Golden Age of Cinema, died Nov. 28 at the age of 93.

Mexico’s cultural ministry on X shared that Pinal had died after starring in more than 60 films and plays over her decades-spanning career. She died after a urinary tract infection and years of health complications. Pinal’s official Instagram account also honored her.

“Your absence will always hurt me, but every memory of you will give me the strength to move forward,” the Instagram account shared. “As long as you live in my heart, I will always feel that you are still with me. I will love you forever, Mom. Rest in peace, Silvia Pinal.”

Pinal was known as a collaborator in the 1960s with the Spanish director Luis Buñuel, starring in the Cannes award-winning “Viridiana,” “The Exterminating Angel” and “Simon of the Desert.” She also...

The Gotham Awards red carpet at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City has opened.

Already spotted are Pamela Anderson, Guy Pearce, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Demi Moore, Colman Domingo, Justice Smith, Sebastian Stan and more.

“Anora” leads the Monday night ceremony — considered the unofficial launch of the months-long awards march to the Oscars — with four nominations, including best feature. “Nickel Boys,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers” and “A Different Man” are also vying for the top prize.

The best director race includes Sean Baker (“Anora”), Jane Schoenbrun (“I Saw the TV Glow”), Payal Kapadia (“All We Imagine as Light”), Guan Hu (“Black Dog”) and RaMell Ross (“Nickel Boys”).

The Gothams went genderless for acting awards starting in 2021, so this year’s best lead performance nominees include Demi Moore (“The Substance”), Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Saoirse Ronan (“The Outrun”), Justice Smith (“I Saw The TV Glow”), Keith Kupferer (“Ghostlight”), Mikey Madison...

For once, the top 10 movies on iTunes and Fandango aren’t close to a mirror image of each other. “Conclave” (Focus) and “Terrifier 3” (Cineverse), both successful October releases that exceeded theatrical expectations, were released on PVOD last week. They had the same availability yet vastly different results.

Edward Berger’s top award-contending “Conclave” took an immediate top spot at iTunes from its first day, yet is only #8 for the full-week in the Fandango top 10. Damien Leone’s “Terrifier 3” leads at Fandango, yet only briefly appeared during the week at iTunes (debuting at #3) before dropping off the list. It currently ranks #14.

The two charts can vary, but mainly in cases of different pricing. Fandango ranks by revenue accrued for a title, while iTunes goes by transactions. But in this case, they are the same price, making the different placements quite odd. In terms of relative position using daily charts for the week,...

The Native American Media Alliance (Nama) has announced the class of fellows for the 6th Annual Native American Animation Lab. This program was created to support Native Americans pursuing careers in the animation field as well as to highlight more accurate portrayals of Indigenous communities in television and film.

“The Native American Animation Lab is a transformative experience that empowers Indigenous artists to bring their unique visions to life,” announced Ian Skorodin (Choctaw), director of strategy for the Native American Media Alliance. ”This lab has uplifted several Native American artists who want to bring their unique stories to life.”

The five-day curriculum for the Native American Animation Lab includes meetings with industry executives from companies such as Netflix, Dreamworks Animation, MTV, Sony Pictures Animation and more. The program is also tailored around mentoring opportunities, group sessions and initiatives to help participants build relationships with professionals in animation. The program concludes...

[Editor’s Note: This article contains spoilers for Episode 3 of “Dune: Prophecy”]

Say whatever you will about Frank Herbert and Brian Herbert, but you cannot accuse them of being narrow in scope or not comprehensive in the fictional worlds they’ve built. There is a 10,000-year gap between the Denis Villeneuve “Dune” films and the events of “Dune: Prophecy,” and enough lore for production designer Tom Meyer to imbue every piece of that history into the design of the HBO series.

The assignment is a designer’s dream in many ways; Meyer needed to create a variety of extremely different environments that would be immediately visually distinct, even if they all share the same large-scale, imposing geometric force established in the films. But whether with the stern austerity of the Bene Gesserit base on Wallach IX or the cancerous grandeur that could potentially swallow up the Corrino family on Salusa Secundus, Meyer thought through how well, or how harshly, history would have treated them.

There have been a lot of creepy kids in the history of horror, but the murdered hallway twins and young psychic Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" are easily among the best. The twins were played by Lisa and Louise Burns, who were 12 years old at the time of filming, while Danny was played by six-year-old Danny Lloyd. Since "The Shining," based on the 1977 Stephen King novel of the same name, has become one of the most famous horror films of all time, both the twins and Danny have become horror legends, but what about the child actors who played them? 

The Burns twins didn't end up having much of a career in acting, though Louise did apply to London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and was turned away because her role in "The Shining" made her a professional and thus technically overqualified. She became a scientist, while her sister became a lawyer,...

Ventana Sur begins today (December 2) and for the first time since its inception in 2009, the leading Ibero-American market is taking place in Montevideo, Uruguay, where participants will conduct business and sample projects from returning and new sections.

Forced to relocate from Argentina this year due to uncertainty created by the country’s ongoing financial crisis, market co-organisers Incaa (Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema & Audiovisual Arts) and Cannes’ Marché du Film have partnered with Uruguayan Film and Audiovisual Agency (Acau).

The so-called ’Río de la Plata’ edition, which was announced at a press event during Cannes last summer with Marché du Film’s Guillaume Esmiol,...

Ventana Sur begins today (December 2) and for the first time since its inception in 2009, the leading Ibero-American market is taking place in Montevideo, Uruguay, where participants will conduct business and sample projects from returning and new sections.

Forced to relocate from Argentina this year due to uncertainty created by the country’s ongoing financial crisis, market co-organisers Incaa (Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema & Audiovisual Arts) and Cannes’ Marché du Film have partnered with Uruguayan Film and Audiovisual Agency (Acau).

The so-called ’Río de la Plata’ edition, which was announced at a press event during Cannes last summer with Marché du Film’s Guillaume Esmiol,...

To many, the Gotham Awards serve as the unofficial starting gun for the Oscar race. The annual awards — which are presented by the Gotham Film and Media Institute and voted on by a selection of film critics, programmers, and curators — serve as the first major film award ceremony of the season and offer an early look at the state of the race that has emerged in the months following the fall festival circuit.

The 34th annual Gotham Awards are set to take place tonight at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. Many of the year’s biggest Oscar contenders will be on hand, as frontrunners like “Anora,” “Challengers,” “Babygirl,” and “Nickel Boys” are all nominated in some of the night’s biggest categories.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams, selected by nominating committees who bring their independent perspective to the selection process,” Gotham Film and...

“Anora” star Mikey Madison recently told Collider that she underestimated just how furiously “Scream” fans would react to her character, Amber Freeman, being revealed as Ghostface and thus responsible for the death of David Arquette’s beloved Dewey in 2022’s “Scream.” Madison was not aware of the “Scream” franchise’s passionate following when she accepted the role.

“I have to be honest, when I did the film, it sounds naive, but I wasn’t so aware of the huge fan base that the franchise has, that I’ve now been able to discover,” Madison said. “Scream and horror fans and people who love horror films are the best people ever, but I really naively went into it.”

“I remember being kind of sad because I was like, ‘Oh, such a great character. It’ll be sad to see him go.’ And then I realized afterward the heartbreak that so many people felt,...

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George Costanza is a mystery. How can one man be so selfish, neurotic, petty, and just all-around pathetic? He doesn't really have any positive qualities. He's a bad friend, a worse boyfriend, and a deplorable employee. The biggest mystery surrounding George may be that anyone is his friend in the first place.

For our eternal amusement, we're glad people were foolish enough to allow George into their lives for nine glorious seasons. If you're making a Greatest Sitcom Characters list, he's almost certainly going to rank the highest out of anyone from the "Seinfeld" ensemble. Only one man would plow through a living room full of children and one elderly woman with a walker upon whiffing a kitchen fire. Yes, he's the only man on the planet who'd cause a multi-family crisis by attempting to reel a marble rye, via fishing rod,...

Bill Skarsgård was counting down the minutes until he could shed his Count Orlok look while filming “Nosferatu.”

Skarsgård, who stars as the titular monster, apparently was “alarmed” by the prosthetics to transform into the undead Count, according to writer/director Robert Eggers.

Eggers told Deadline that Skarsgård was more than skeptical about the aesthetics of the film.

“Bill sees the sculpt of the bust and he freaks out, and he’s like, ‘That doesn’t look anything like me, this guy didn’t look like me when he was even alive. What the fuck?’” Eggers said. “He wasn’t mean, but he was alarmed. And I was like, ‘Well, that’s the point, that you’re totally transforming into somebody else.’”

Eggers continued of Skarsgård, “And then, he’s putting the makeup on and he’s like, ‘Ugh, I look like a goblin. This is terrible.’ And then, once they put the hair on,...

The newly founded Sycamore Studios has bagged another high-profile piece of intellectual property for film adaptation.

Formed in August by Christian McGuigan and Timothy Reckart, Sycamore has won the rights to the bestselling graphic novel series “Zita the Spacegirl.” The project joins a development slate that also includes an animated feature take on the classic “Doctor Dolittle,” from screenwriters Cal Brunker and Bob Barlen.

The acquisition comes on the heels of a successful Series A funding round, which we hear was oversubscribed and fetched mid-seven-figures for Sycamore’s operations and productions.

Written by Ben Hatke, “Zita” follows a brave girl who is propelled into a cosmic adventure when her best friend is abducted by aliens. Zita’s unwavering determination to find her way back home and her courageous sacrifice for others transform her into an intergalactic hero. The property was previously set up at Fox Animation with Peter Chernin, and...

The second remake of Fw Murnau’s unofficial Dracula adaptation is handsomely shot and stylised, with a forbiddingly gruesome monster, but walks the line between self-conscious and scary

Here is Robert Eggers’s avowed passion project as writer-director: a luxury-arthouse remake on a grand scale, paying homage to Fw Murnau’s classic silent film from 1922, the German expressionist nightmare of Count Orlok, or Nosferatu, the “evil one”, a pallid vampire living in the shadow of the Carpathian Mountains. Eggers’s film can’t quite bear to say the comedy word “Transylvania” out loud, though we get to glimpse it on a map. It is an interesting new Nosferatu for our age of pandemic fear, with some beautiful images and striking moments, particularly in the eerie moonlit hallucination sequence at the beginning, which makes the rest of the story feel slightly literal and self-conscious.

The German stage actor Max Schreck was the vampire in the 1922 version,...

When it comes to horror movies, I don't scare easily. This isn't a boast about my bravery; I'm simply desensitized. I grew up immersed in the horror genre, and I'm so devoted to horror movies that I've become mostly inoculated to their raw power. I still love horror — it's my favorite genre — but I rarely ever get scared when I watch a scary movie. So when a horror movie comes along and actually gives me the creeps, I consider it an achievement. Enter Robert Eggers' "Nosferatu," a movie that sent chills down my spine and made my heartbeat quicken. Eggers has pulled off something special: a gothic, ghoulish phantasmagoria that has the power to scare the hell out of you. This is all the more impressive due to the fact that Eggers isn't exactly treading new ground here -- he's remaking F. W. Murnau's classic silent film, which was,...

With the reverential early-horror tribute that is “Nosferatu,” Robert Eggers has crafted more than just a remake, but somehow less than a fully satisfying filmgoing experience. Visually striking as it is, with compositions that rival great Flemish paintings, the obsessive director’s somber retelling of F.W. Murnau’s expressionistic vampire movie is commendably faithful to the 1922 silent film and more accessible than “The Lighthouse” and “The Witch,” yet eerily drained of life.

In re-creating what came before, Eggers is mindful of Murnau’s distinctive style, but is too gifted simply to mimic. Instead, the meticulously detail-oriented director offers his take on the classic, treating nearly every frame as a work of art unto itself, while further embellishing the story’s Romantic aspects — which might have succeeded, if not for the cast. “Nosferatu” builds to a tragic finale, but is weighed down by pretentious dialogue, somnolent pacing and weak performances, especially...

Right out of the gate, filmmaker Robert Eggers seemed preternaturally formed. His arresting debut, “The Witch,” not only introduced us to Anya Taylor-Joy, but the horror chilled to the bone and announced the arrival of a bold new filmmaker. Eggers has made good on that promise ever since with all his audacious and ambitious films, but he crafts his chef kiss masterwork with the stunning and utterly spine-chilling “Nosferatu.”

Read More: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch

Essentially a remake of 1922’s silent German Expressionist vampire film directed by F.

Continue reading ‘Nosferatu’ Review: Robert Eggers’ Spellbinding Gothic Horror Is Hauntingly Masterful at The Playlist.

Robert Eggers’ spectacular “Nosferatu” opens with several pronounced seconds of perfect, crypt-like blackness, as if the director were adjusting his audience’s eyes to see in the dark. But the film that follows — luminously ashen where too many recent movies and TV shows have just been irritatingly dim — is flooded with a moonlight so lucid and alive that even the story’s most stygian moments might as well have been set at high noon. For all of its exquisite darkness, this “Nosferatu” is never the least bit difficult to see.

The reason for that is simple: Eggers doesn’t want us to see in the darkness, he wants us to see the darkness itself. To recognize it not as the absence of light, but rather as a feral and undying force all its own — one that we carry within ourselves like a secret corseted in virtue.

Faithful as it might...

John David Washington is praising Christopher Nolan for challenging the status quo with “Tenet.”

Washington, who now stars in critically acclaimed feature “The Piano Lesson,” told Deadline that co-leading Nolan’s 2020 feature alongside Robert Pattinson was “shaking up” Hollywood at the time. Washington made history as the first Black lead in a Nolan film at the time.

“I think what was so brilliant, which is one of the reasons I know Nolan is a real one, is because he didn’t sensationalize it. He didn’t say we’re on the precipice of history or anything like that. He just said, ‘He’s a man. He’s the protagonist. I know who I picked,’ and I think that kind of thinking was what I was very excited about,” Washington said. “Now, of course, I thought about it because first, I’m in a Nolan film and yeah there’s a...

In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Cause and Effect", the U.S.S. Enterprise-d enters a recurring time loop, forcing the people on board to relive the same day over and over again. At the start of the day, several members of the senior staff gather for a game of poker. At the end of the day, the Enterprise collides with a mysterious other ship and explodes, killing everyone on board. When time resets, the Enterprise crew has no memory of what happened. 

Of course, thanks to some elaborate clues, the crew does eventually find out what's happening, and even develop a means to sent additional clues backward into the next time loop. In the next repetition, the crew finally deciphers their own hints and escapes the loop by dodging the mysterious ship. Once freed, the Enterprise-d contacts that ship, and finds it is the U.S.S.

Multihouse has tapped Joe Hernandez to be the inaugural Vice President of Production, Variety has exclusively learned.

Hernandez is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker known for his sound work on “Down to Earth with Zac Efron.” Hernandez will oversee the opening of Bungalow Studios within The Preserve LA’s 90,800 square-foot campus and take the lead on several new projects as the studio launches its new production facility.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Multihouse as the VP of their Production division,” Hernandez said. “Multihouse is known for its innovation, creativity and commitment to telling compelling stories, and I’m excited to help drive our vision forward. It’s an honor to be part of a creative team that’s reshaping this evolving industry, and I can’t wait to dive into the projects and opportunities ahead.”

The new facility marks a partnership with the award-winning production company Multihouse and The Preserve LA,...

Anya Taylor-Joy is about to get Lucky — so is Apple TV+, for that matter.

The Apple streaming service has acquired the rights to “Lucky,” a new limited series that will star Taylor-Joy and be executive produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine banner.

“Lucky” is based on a New York Times-bestselling novel — and an entry in Reese’s Book Club — by Marissa Stapley. It tells the story of a young woman who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past. So that’s Taylor-Joy’s mission.

Jonathan Tropper, who was behind “See” for Apple Studios, and Cassie Pappas, who works on Apple’s “Silo,” are co-showrunning “Lucky,” with Tropper writing and executive producing. Witherspoon will also executive produce alongside Lauren Neustadter for Hello Sunshine, and Taylor-Joy will...

Few franchises have stood the test of time quite like "Dragon Ball." It's a property that surprised everyone (even its creator), becoming a cultural phenomenon that's now synonymous with the entire anime medium and has all but created its own genre. Now, 40 years after the original "Dragon Ball" manga began circulation, comes "Dragon Ball Daima." This show is a pure treat for fans, a phenomenal series of television that takes the "Dragon Ball" franchise back to its roots with a whimsical, silly adventure. Sure, there are still epic fights, but this time it's not about the next world-ending threat; it's about being as much fun as possible and finding enemies for Goku to have a blast fighting — like when he decides on a whim to fight a giant robot or obliterate patrons at a bar for disrespecting his friends.

As silly as "Daima" is, it's also huge in terms of...