Luca Guadagnino’s latest drama, “After the Hunt,” will open the 63rd New York Film Festival with its North American premiere, Film at Lincoln Center announced Wednesday.

The film stars Julia Roberts as a Yale philosophy professor whose comfortable life is upended when her star graduate student, played by “The Bear” star Ayo Edebiri, accuses another professor (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault. Written by first-time screenwriter Nora Garrett, “After the Hunt” tackles gender, sexuality, race and power as they play out in the privileged world of academia.

Julia Roberts in “After the Hunt” (Amazon MGM Studios)

Guadagnino will attend the Sept. 26 screening with members of the cast (names have not yet been announced). The acclaimed director came to last year’s New York Film Festival with “Queer” and brought “Bones and All” in 2022 and “Call Me by Your Name” in 2017. “After the Hunt” reunites the filmmaker with Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny,...

Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera has unveiled a rich mix of buzzy movies with big stars — as well as smaller titles with awards potential — that will be vying for the Golden Lion during the event’s upcoming 82nd edition.

Hotly anticipated new works from Kathryn Bigelow, Guillermo Del Toro, Noah Baumbach, Mona Fastvold, Luca Guadagnino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Olivier Assayas, Park Chan-wook, Benny Safdie and more are set for Lido launches, making for a cornucopia of cinematic offerings.

As anticipated by Variety, big-name films premiering at Venice include Safdie’s “The Smashing Machine” from A24, featuring Dwayne Johnson as two-time UFC heavyweight champ Mark Kerr and Emily Blunt as his wife Dawn; Focus Features’ “Bugonia,” the latest collaboration between Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone, who were last at the fest in 2023 with the Oscar-winning “Poor Things”; and Luca Guadagnino’s psychological drama “After the Hunt” starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield and Ayo Edebiri.

Lionsgate has confirmed a new release date for Michael, with the Michael Jackson biopic now set for launch in cinemas and IMAX locations worldwide on April 24, 2026.

Lionsgate will distribute in the US and Canada, Kino Films in Japan and Universal in the rest of the world.

The film, produced by Graham King, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring the pop superstar’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, had originally been slated to open in April this year, but was then moved to October.

Lionsgate executives confirmed in May that a move to spring 2026 was likely, and that releasing the project as two...

About eight years ago, multihyphenate Noah Hawley wrote a five-page pitch for FX on what he would do with the “Alien” franchise if he ever got the chance to work in the world established in 1979 by Ridley Scott’s seminal film.

Next month, FX will unveil its wildly ambitious, first-ever TV series take on the sci-fi franchise that has spawned eight other films across the past five decades. On the latest episode of the “Daily Variety” podcast, Daniel D’Addario, Variety’s chief correspondent, offers insights into his inside look at the making of “Alien: Earth” that is featured as Variety‘s July 23 cover story.

D’Addario reports that all of the major components of Hawley’s eight-year-old outline made it into the final series, which drops on FX and Hulu Aug. 12. That’s a testament to the strength of the writer-producer’s vision for adapting “Alien” as a TV series for the present day.

The Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” will open in standard theaters and in Imax worldwide on April 24, moving from its earlier October date.

Lionsgate is releasing the film domestically, with Universal handling distribution in the rest of the world except for Japan, which is handled by Kino Films.

Antoine Fuqua directs, with John Logan as screenwriter and Jaafar Jackson starring as his late uncle. Graham King, an Oscar winner for “The Departed,” produces.

“‘Michael’ explores the global superstar’s journey to become known to the world as the King of Pop, presenting an intimate look at the life and enduring legacy of one of the most influential, trailblazing artists the world has ever known,” the synopsis reads.

Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer said in May that the movie was “likely” to move to 2026. Although it wrapped production in May 2024, the project underwent reshoots and came in with a lengthy initial cut. Earlier,...

Julia Ormond is asking a court to enforce a subpoena against CAA co-founder Michael Ovitz, after he skipped a noticed deposition in June.

Ormond is suing the agency for allegedly setting her up to be sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein in December 1995 — a charge the agency has adamantly denied.

Ovitz left the agency to take the number-two job at Disney in August 1995. Ormond’s lawyers want to question him about the agency’s ties to Weinstein and about comments he has made regarding sexual harassment in the industry in that era.

In 2018, Ovitz told Cbnc that sexual harassment had been around Hollywood “since its inception.”

“This whole concept has been around forever and it’s always been swept under the rug,” he said.

According to a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ormond’s lawyers filed a deposition notice on May 29, ordering Ovitz to appear on June 12. Ovitz did not...

Rene Kirby, an actor known for his work in “Shallow Hal” died on July 11 in Burlington, Vermont. He was 70.

His brother Jon confirmed to Seven Days that Kirby had died at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Kirby was hospitalized for two months with kidney, bladder and esophagus issues, as well as multiple infections. Kirby had previously survived throat cancer, but lost the ability to speak after the removal of his larynx.

Born in Vermont, Kirby was born with spina bifida, a condition that causes scoliosis, leg paralysis, and difficulty walking. After earning state titles in swimming and skiing, Kirby worked with Ibm for 20 years. While living in Vermont, Kirby was scouted by Peter Farelly while he was directing “Me, Myself and Irene” in 1999. After the pair met, Farelly decided to cast Kirby in “Shallow Hal,” where he played a character named Walt alongside Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black.

In...

What if "Twin Peaks" was a surreal sitcom instead of a twisted mystery? It might look something like the classic CBS series "Northern Exposure," which ran for six seasons beginning in 1990. Sure, David Lynch and Mark Frost brought some humor to "Twin Peaks," but "Northern Exposure" is much more purely a sitcom with some similarly strange elements, and it's a real treat. 

"Northern Exposure" follows Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow), a New York City doctor who had his med school tuition paid for on the promise that he would practice medicine for four years in the state of Alaska, which sorely needed doctors. He ends up in the tiny fictional town of Cicely, where he'll be the town's primary doctor despite being fresh out of med school. Cicely is a strange little town with a real cast of characters, and as Joel gets to know his new neighbors as they...

As we officially get deeper into the month of July, the past few weeks have been filled with summer blockbusters and independent films for audiences to discover. From space-age superheroes to relationship miscommunication, this season is full of blockbusters for everyone to watch on the big screen for the next few weeks.

The widest release for the third week of July will be Marvel Entertainment’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. The film, which is the second reboot of the “Fantastic Four” franchise follows the Fantastic Four as they attempt to save Earth from an intergalactic evil known as Galactus in a retro-futuristic 1960s universe.

The biggest limited release for this week will be Sony Pictures’ “Oh, Hi!,” starring Molly Gordon and Logan Lerman. The film centers around new couple Iris and Isaac who take a romantic weekend road trip together.

A video game based on Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser” franchise is in development from Saber Interactive and Boss Team Games.

Titled “Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival,” the single-player, survival horror action game marks the first-ever video game based on the horror series. The game will “put players face-to-face against the legendary Pinhead, with actor Doug Bradley returning to the role for the first time in nearly two decades.”

The “Hellraiser” game will launch across PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC via Steam.

“Working on the first true ‘Hellraiser’ game has been a venture deep into the recesses of my darkest imaginings,” Barker said. “The dedication that Saber and Boss Team Games have shown is nothing short of remarkable. They’ve immersed themselves in the ‘Hellraiser’ universe, capturing its essence—the seductive pull of suffering, the beauty within the grotesque—and forged a narrative that invites players to step beyond the threshold.

Few artists march to the beat of their own drum as proudly as Rick Alverson. The Virginia-based filmmaker is known for his unapologetically bleak explorations of topics that might be funny in other contexts, like the Neil Hamburger tragedy “Entertainment” and the Tim Heidecker drama “The Comedy,” applying his singular, uncompromising voice to each project. And now, he wants to teach the next generation of filmmakers how to do the same thing with their own voices.

Alverson and musician Emilie Rex recently launched the Little Valley School, an arts education community in the Allegheny Highlands of Virginia. IndieWire can exclusively reveal the school’s first major program: a series of two online filmmaking workshops hosted by Guy Maddin, the director of provocative films like “My Winnipeg,” “The Saddest Music in the World” and “Rumors,” and Carlos Reygadas, the acclaimed Mexican arthouse director behind films like “Post Tenebras Lux,” “Japón,” and “Silent Light.

Noémie Merlant’s second directorial feature marks a reunion with one of her most iconic collaborators: Her “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” director Céline Sciamma, who co-wrote Merlant’s latest film “The Balconettes.”

Merlant once again transforms onscreen in the role of C-list actress Élise, who has recently been cast as Marilyn Monroe in a TV movie. “The Balconettes” centers on a trio of roommates (one of whom is Élise) that “meddle in the lives of their neighbors from their Marseilles balcony during a sweltering heat wave, until a late-night drink spirals into a bloody confrontation,” as the logline reads. The feature co-stars Souheila Yacoub, Sanda Codreanu, and Lucas Bravo, who filmed “The Balconettes” right before Melanie Laurent’s true crime caper “Freedom.” Bravo previously told IndieWire that his turn in “The Balconettes” was a “very demanding role” as he was playing a “sociopath.”

Merlant made her feature directorial debut with “Mi Ubita,...

In its substantial heart, “Washington Black” is a simple coming-of-age story about a boy learning to navigate an adulthood filled with drawbacks. Although the Hulu adaptation of Esi Edugyan’s award-winning novel can fly off-course — suffering most from modern television’s penchant for juggling multiple timelines at once, chronology and coherence be damned — the first four episodes (of eight total) nurture their core premise well enough to instill warm, honest reassurances in its young audience, while offering an affable adventure made all the more pleasant thanks to a game cast and curious spirit.

The bluntly named George Washington Black, played as an 11-year-old by Eddie Karanja, is a scientific prodigy. He can look at a machine and intuitively understand how it works — and how to fix it. When “Wash” repairs a 19th-century battery, pilot director Wanuri Kahiu visualizes Wash’s imagination, briefly showing the inner workings to the audience just...

"Little Nicky" isn't regarded as one of Adam Sandler's best movies ... though we could say the same about many of his more disreputable flicks. The fantastical comedy was a financial flop upon its release back in the year 2000, despite Sandler riding a wave of momentum following hits like "Billy Madison" and "Big Daddy." What's more, the film gained mostly negative reviews from critics -- which, to be fair, is also part and parcel with Sandler movies. With that being said, "Little Nicky" has its defenders (this writer included), as it's one of the few comedies out there featuring angels, demons, talking dogs, slacker metalheads, and giant birds that hound creepy men. Not only that, but it boasts a memorable cameo from the late Ozzy Osbourne, who helps prevent one of Satan's sons from taking over the world.

Before we dig into the importance of Ozzy's cameo to the plot,...

Vidiots, northeast Los Angeles’ premier repertory screening venue and cultiest video store, is now aiming to add even more rare titles to its 70,000-plus library of one-of-a-kind movies.

The Vidiots Foundation, the nonprofit which operates the Eagle Rock screening and video rental brick-and-mortar, has announced a relaunch of its ambitious VHS digitization project. IndieWire shares the exclusive details on the initiative, the ultimate goal of which is to preserve a collection of thousands of culturally significant and rare titles from Vidiots’ VHS archive — one that dates back to the organization’s early days in the mid-1980s and through the ’90s and 2000s in Santa Monica. Vidiots closed in 2017 but then officially reopened in 2023.

Originally launched in 2015, the preservation program began when a professional team of archivists identified the first 250 rare tapes from a long-held, legacy Vidiots VHS collection, which were then digitized with support from L.A.-based Post Haste Digital.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron have filed a defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens, the conservative influencer and podcaster who claims the first lady was born male.

Filed in Delaware on Wednesday, the lawsuit accuses Owens of publishing “outlandish, defamatory and far-fetched fictions,” causing “substantial reputational damage” and “substantial economic damages” to the Macrons in the process, according to the Financial Times.

The 218 page-court ruling states that along with claiming Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, Owens went on to say that the Macrons are also blood relatives and that Emmanuel Macron is “a product of a CIA human experiment or a similar government mind control programme,” per the Financial Times.

The lawsuit says Owens is responsible for spreading the conspiracy theory in the U.S. and around the world in order “to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety and make money.” On top of selling some merchandise,...

There’s no such thing as “too much” in Montreal, but Fantasia Fest is long no matter how you slice it. Running from July 16 to August 3, the annual genre event in Québec celebrates its 29th edition this year — though it used to cover even more of the calendar.

The beloved summer film festival began in 1996 as a means of connecting Canadian cinephiles with cutting-edge films from the Asian market. Back then, audiences had several years of movies to catch up on, but now, Fantasia fuels almost three weeks of programming with stories curated from around the globe.

“Genre” filmmaking covers any highly stylized cinematic work that plays on specific tropes from sci-fi, horror, fantasy — you name it. Fantasia lures all kinds of artistic voices into its purple-hued embrace, presenting its own world premieres alongside top titles that previously played SXSW, Sundance, Tribeca, FrightFest, Sitges, and Overlook. What does well here...

Timothée Chalamet has been on a historic run of late. The actor recently fronted a string of hit films that have propelled him to true movie star status, to the point that people will seemingly buy tickets to a film simply because it has the Chalamet factor. Sure, not everything the young actor has done has been successful. Some of the worst Chalamet movies include 2015's "Love the Coopers" and 2019's "A Rainy Day in New York," the latter arriving two years after Chalamet's breakthrough performance in the 2017 love story worth falling head over heels for, "Call Me By Your Name." But the actor's recent run of films have all performed extremely well.

After helping "Dune: Part Two" cross box office milestones with his performance as Paul Atreides, Chalamet played Bob Dylan in the Oscar-nominated biopic "A Complete Unknown," which garnered critical praise and saw the actor take on the...

Earlier this month, Hulu announced that the upcoming “King of the Hill” revival will see Ronny Chieng take over the recurring guest role of Kahn Souphanousinphone from the show’s original run. The decision meant that the Asian character, previously one of several parts voiced by Toby Huss, would be voiced by an Asian performer for the first time.

Now, IndieWire can exclusively reveal five new guest stars for the show’s long-awaited 14th season, several of which are similar recastings of old recurring characters with actors of color. In addition, Keith David and Anthony “Citric” Campos have joined the series as new characters.

David will play new character Brian Robertson, who rented the house of main character Hank (series co-creator Mike Judge) in between the events of the show’s original seasons and the revival, and integrates into Hank’s friend group. Campos will play Emilio, a chef at...

Elba McAllister’s Cineplex USA has pounced on the worldwide sales rights to “November” (“Noviembre”), the feature debut of Colombia’s Tomás Corredor, which world premieres at Toronto Film Festival (TIFF)’s Discovery program.

“November” revisits one of the darkest and most complex chapters of Colombia’s recent past, where ideology, violence and power collide in a harrowing descent into tragedy.

“We’re delighted to be representing Tomás Corredor’s debut feature, ‘November’ on the international stage. As Cineplex USA, it’s a privilege to work once more with producer Diana Bustamante and the team at Burning to bring this extraordinary story to audiences worldwide,” said McAllister.

“The film revisits the harrowing events of November 1985, when M 19 guerrillas seized Colombia’s Palace of Justice and a group of ordinary people took shelter in a bathroom as a brutal cross fire raged for 27 hours. It’s a story so unbelievable it feels like fiction,...

“South Park” isn’t going anywhere. Co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have agreed to an expansive overall deal that will keep their Park County production company aligned with Paramount for the next five years. The deal will see the duo produce 50 new episodes of “South Park” for Comedy Central over the next half decade, and the entire 26-season “South Park” library will stream exclusively on Paramount+. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The deal, which was announced hours before “South Park” Season 27 premieres, brings an end to a period of uncertainty for the long-running comedy franchise. The new season was originally slated to premiere on July 9, but was delayed for two weeks for reasons relating to Paramount’s ongoing merger with Skydance.

“This merger is a shitshow and is fucking up ‘South Park,’” Parker and Stone wrote on X. “We are at the studio working on new...

After smashing Sundance with its horror breakout hit “Together” starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie, the Melbourne-based company Princess Pictures is poised to expand its footprint in the feature film arena with a raft of bold projects boasting award-winning talent and creatives.

The banner’s inaugural live-action feature film slate includes “Stillwater,” a crime thriller produced with “Animal Kingdom” filmmaker David Michôd, actor Joel Edgerton and producer Brad Zimmerman (“The Outfit”); as well as Michael Shanks’s follow up to “Together,” “Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel,” which is based on his Black List script and produced with “Don’t Look Up” filmmaker Adam McKay’s outfit; and “Axis of Impersonators,” a timely documentary feature with producer/directors Alexis Spraic (“Shadow Billionaire”) and Nick Cole.

“Stillwater” is based on the first novel of Tanya Scott, a doctor and medical educator turned writer with years of experience working in mental health care. The story revolves around Jack Quinn,...

The process of shepherding an independent movie from ideation to completion is like carrying an armful of eggs through a minefield on the edge of a slippery cliff overlooking a lake of fire: There are numerous ways it can go catastrophically wrong at any moment, and it’s almost guaranteed that some shells are going to crack.

On Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” — about a dying filmmaker (Richard Gere) who gives a former student (Jacob Elordi) a final demythologizing interview — the life-flashes-before-you moment came on the last day of shooting when it looked like production was going to have to shut down.

“We didn’t have all of our financing, and we had to pay the crew,” recalls Tiffany Boyle, president of packaging and sales at the Los Angeles-based law firm Ramo, who served as a producer on the movie.

Fortunately, Boyle was able to call on a trusted financier,...

Benedict Cumberbatch is detailing just how “wasteful” Hollywood can be. The actor, who played Doctor Strange in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, cited how his own “body transformation” added to the lack of eco-conscious efforts on set.

“Going back to responsibility and resourcefulness and sustainability, it’s just like, ‘What am I doing? I could feed a family with the amount I’m eating,’” Cumberbatch said during “Ruthie’s Table 4” podcast in the below video. He would eat five meals a day to play the superhero, adding, “It’s horrific eating beyond your appetite.”

Hollywood as a whole is a “grossly wasteful industry,” he said. “Think about set builds that aren’t recycled, think about transport, think about food, think about housing, but also light and energy. The amount of wattage you need to create daylight and consistent light in a studio environment. It’s a lot of energy.”

And that...

Kenneth Washington, who made several TV appearances and was the last surviving main cast member of the CBS series “Hogan’s Heroes,” died on July 18. He was 88.

A familiar guest star on TV series in the 1960s, Washington’s appearances included roles in “Star Trek,” “I Dream of Jeannie,” “My Three Sons,” “The Name of the Game,” “Petticoat Junction,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Adam-12” and “Dragnet 1967.”

He landed his “Hogan’s Heroes” role as Sergeant Baker in 1970, but the show was canceled the following year by CBS. Washington’s work in the 1970s included an appearance in the 1973 film “Westworld” as well as roles in the TV series “The Paul Lynde Show,” “The F.B.I.,” “The Rockford Files” and “Police Story.” One of his last TV appearances was alongside Jasmine Guy in “A Different World” in 1989.

Born in Ethel, Miss., Washington and his family moved to California, where he was raised in the...

Colombia’s ever-expanding Bogota Audiovisual Market (Bam) wrapped July 18, citing record attendance that has climbed steadily year after year. Led by Carlos Eduardo Moreno, Bam reported 2,275 accredited participants and among its international guests, some 300 visited the annual event, doubling last year’s tally of 150. Business meetings arranged by Bam leapt from an estimated 600 last year to more than 800 in this edition.

Organized by promotional entity Proimágenes Colombia and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, Bam aims to further expand next year to include more documentaries and serve as a showcase for some Latin American films that have been selected or endorsed by their respective governments, said Proimágenes’ indefatigable director, Claudia Triana.

“We have a genuine interest in continuing several of the initiatives we established this year. That is, we want to maintain spaces where the audiovisual industries can foster greater dialogue… between series, feature films, VR, animation, music and games – allowing...

Colombia’s three major studios, Tis Studios, Rcn and Caracol, have opened their doors ever wider to the growing influx of international projects, lured by the country’s generous incentives.

Since about five years ago, Rcn transitioned from being “a TV network with studios to a studio with a network,” said Alex Marín, VP of Distribution, who took up his post at Rcn after 20 years at Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Our three-pillar approach is 1. To produce for our channel, 2. Produce content with partners or for partners and 3. provide production services,” he pointed out.

Established some 30 years ago, all three companies boast a depth of experience, sprawling facilities and multiple sound stages, with Rcn claiming the largest in Latin America.

Tis Studios (formerly FoxTelecolombia) boasts a standing jail set, the only one of its kind in Colombia where “Sound of Freedom” and “Perfil Falso” shot some scenes, while Rcn has housed various cooking reality shows for years,...

Leading Latin American production company Dynamo, the powerhouse shingle behind such hits as “Narcos” and “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” is revving up its international growth plans with seasoned industry execs Carol Trussell in Los Angeles and U.K.-based Kristin Jones.

Given their long-standing reputations and deep knowledge of the industry, both execs are well positioned to troubleshoot issues anywhere – whether remotely or on set – ensuring flow and leveraging their strong connections with former colleagues.

Trussell, who serves as an executive producer at Dynamo, is a former Apple TV+ exec who was among the first six people who helped build the platform, leading the team that oversaw and produced such hits as “The Morning Show,” “Ted Lasso” and “Pachinko.”

Prior to Apple TV+, Trussell was the head of production at Gaumont Television and was pivotal in making sure “Narcos” was shot in Colombia. Reflecting on the making of “Narcos,...

ITV Studios has taken a majority stake in leading Spanish scripted production company Plano a Plano, founded by seasoned producer César Benítez.

One of the very few big Spanish TV companies not to have been acquired by foreign interests, Plano a Plano has produced series such as “Valeria,” based on the novels by Elisabet Benavent, ranked in Netflix’s Top 5 most-viewed international dramas globally; “El Príncipe,” a thriller series produced for Mediaset España sold to more than 60 territories, and “Servir y proteger,” a daily soap for Spanish public broadcaster Rtve.

Benítez, CEO Emilio Amaré and executive producer Álvaro Benítez will continue to lead the label, reporting to London-based Lisa Perrin, ITV Studios managing director, international production.

Launched in 2011, with headquarters in Madrid and Bilbao, Plano a Plano will sit alongside ITV Studios Iberia in Spain, the joint venture launched in 2023 by ITV Studios and scripted label Cattleya Producciones, both led by Nathalie García.

One of the many panels held at the Bogotá Audiovisual Market (Bam) last week drew a particularly large audience that had some standing and others unable to get into the cramped room, their curiosity piqued by its title: ‘Producers on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.’

The panelists were some of Colombia’s most successful producers and/or directors, Diana Bustamante (“Memoria”), Cristina Gallego (“Birds of Passage”), Franco Lolli (“Gente de Bien”) and Manuel Ruiz Montealegre, all members of Pi, the Colombian association of independent producers founded in 2023. Gallego, its president, served as the moderator.

The panel highlighted the challenges facing Colombia’s independent film industry, 10 years after the most recent film law and its incentives were launched, stressing the need for greater collaboration among producers, directors and institutions.

“What I’ve noticed over the past 10 years is that the market has closed off completely [to auteur films]—not only in Colombia, particularly in theatrical,...

Michael Chiklis provides some veteran locker room presence in the first trailer for “The Senior,” a sports drama from Angel Studios.

The footage introduces the unlikely athletic journey of Mike Flynt, a real life linebacker who was expelled by his college shortly before graduating in the ’70s. Decades later and on the other side of middle-age, Flynt decided to make a comeback by rejoining his college roster, becoming the oldest linebacker in the history of NCAA football.

Along with Chiklis, “The Senior” also stars Mary Stuart Masterson, Brandon Flynn, James Badge Dale and Rob Corddry. Rod Lurie directs. Robert Eisele wrote the screenplay, after being introduced to Flynt by producer Mark Ciardi in 2008 — one year after Flynt’s record-breaking season for Sul Ross State University in Texas.

“I love football — everything about it: the intensity, the strategies, the artfulness of the athleticism… but mostly, I am imbued with it as...

It wasn’t so long ago that audiences would show up to seemingly any movie featuring a costumed hero or a masked killer. But times and standards have changed, and lately, Hollywood’s two most reliable genres — superheroes and horror — are showing signs of fatigue.

“People haven’t stopped loving horror or superhero films, but they stopped loving mediocre entries in those worlds,” says exhibitor Mike Barstow, executive VP of Midwest-based Acx Cinemas. “There’s a demand for higher quality.”

Analysts believe there are different reasons behind the wear and tear of each. Yet both types of fare appear to have reached the oversaturation point. That’s not to say that movies in either genre can’t or won’t break through — “Sinners” ($365 million), “Superman” ($426 million to date) and “Final Destination: Bloodlines” ($285 million) are recent triumphs — but they are no longer box office guarantees.

“Hollywood takes the less risk-adverse approach...

Prominent Egyptian producer and distributor Mohamed Hefzy’s Film Clinic is headed to the Venice Film Festival with a trio of titles hailing from Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Algeria.

The strong Lido presence amounts to a first for the expanding shingle that is increasingly playing a key role in supporting emerging and independent talent from the entire Mena region.

Significantly, none of the Film Clinic titles launching from Venice are from Egypt.

Film Clinic, which recently opened an outpost in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, will be on the Lido with “Hijra” (pictured above) the second feature from Saudi filmmaker Shahad Ameen whose feminist fable “Scales” made a splash after launching from Venice in 2019.

“Hijra,” which will premiere in the Venice Spotlight section – that is part of the official selection – is a road movie centered on the bond formed between different generations of Saudi women during a journey across the desert.

Luca Guadagnino has found his Elon Musk.

“The Studio” star Ike Barinholtz is in talks to to play the billionaire and former Donald Trump ally in the director’s upcoming feature “Artificial” at Amazon MGM.

As previously announced, the film will star Andrew Garfield and recent Oscar nominee Yura Borisov (“Anora”) and is described as a “comedic drama set in the world of artificial intelligence.” Early chatter suggests that “Artificial” will centers around the company OpenAI and the tumultuous period in 2023 when its CEO Sam Altman was fired and rehired in just a few days. Though nothing has been confirmed, Garfield is expected to portray Altman while Borisov is reportedly playing Iya Stuskever, an OpenAI co-founder who led the movement to get rid of Altman.

Simon Rich (“An American Pickle”) wrote the script and will produce alongside Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford as well as Jennifer Fox.

Barinholtz...

Exclusive:Wouter Jansen’s Vienna-based Square Eyes has acquired international sales rights toBosnian director Dane Komljen’s Desire Lines,which is making its world premiere in the international competition at Locarno Film Festival next month.

Desire Lines follows an emotionally damaged but charismatic man played by Ivan Čuić, as he roams through shadowy Belgrade cityscapes and eventually heads towards the mountains.

The writer-director described his film as drawing “a line between this reality and fantasy found in fairytales and horror films, pointing towards the hunger for the unknown”.

Komljen shot his third feature in the remote rural Bosnian locations that...

Kareem Rahma is best known for his viral “Subway Takes” videos, but the “Poker Face” actor is now fictionalizing his MetroCard adventures for the big screen with indie “Or Something.” Rahma co-writes and co-stars alongside fellow writer/actor Mary Neely in the feature, which is billed as a contemporary take on “Before Sunrise.”

The official synopsis for “Or Something” reads: “Two strangers, Olivia (Neely) and Amir (Rahma), show up at the same Brooklyn apartment to collect cash they’re both owed. Forced to spend the day together on a journey through New York City, the pair reveal intimate details about their lives. The duo are stuck together on the subway, eating lunch, walking through Central Park, and bonding over disagreements about sex, dating, religion, and death. One of them also happens to be hiding a harrowing secret…” David Zayas co-stars.

Jeffrey Scotti Schroeder makes his directorial debut with the film; Pete Ohs edits the indie.

If you become Spider-Man for an entire generation of movie-goers, your cinematic legacy is always guaranteed. No matter what you do, you will always be Spider-Man for the kids that grew up watching your movies, and with Tom Holland, that's a darn good thing, as the British actor's attempts to explore other characters and styles haven't exactly panned out thus far. The young star is undeniably talented, but for whatever reason, he's yet to emphatically establish himself outside of his three Spidey movies and multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances.

There was the uninspired action adventure outing "Uncharted," which, as video game adaptations go, wasn't the best (though it was hardly the bomb of the decade that was "Borderlands"). His starring role in Doug Liman's "Chaos Walking" also failed to cause much of a stir, and his attempts to save the bloated mess that was the Russo brothers' "Cherry" couldn't redeem that ill-fated crime drama.

Croatia-based sales outfit Split Screen has acquired Serbian filmmaker Goran Stanković’s feature “Our Father,” ahead of its world premiere in Toronto Film Festival’s Discovery section.

Stanković’s recent TV series “Operation Sabre,” created and directed with Vladimir Tagić, was a prize winner at Canneseries. His feature documentary “In the Dark” world premiered at IDFA. Stanković, who was raised in Serbia, studied filmmaking at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, where his thesis film “Way in Rye” was nominated for a Student Academy Award for best narrative short.

“Our Father,” which is Stanković’s debut narrative feature, follows 32-year-old Dejan who, after years of spiraling addiction, arrives at a secluded monastery commune run by a strict but magnetic priest. Isolated from the outside world, the commune treats addiction through labor, discipline, obedience and faith.

Assigned a humble guardian and immersed in a rigid daily routine, Dejan begins a...

The signs are there from the jump. Mixed signs, to be sure, but signs indeed, enough to make anyone (especially the neurotic Iris) think and re-think and re-re-think everything that has transpired between her and presumed boyfriend Isaac on their very first romantic getaway (insert Gif of Bridget Jones screaming about “a minibreak meaning true love” here) before everything goes absolutely to hell and back.

In Sophie Brooks’ winning, wise, and very funny sophomore outing “Oh, Hi!,” the devil is in the details, and the details? Well, they’re in the kind of patchwork-guessing and random sign-seeing that so many are forced to endure as they embark on the horrors of modern dating. Brooks just takes them in some delightfully daffy (and occasionally deeply scary) new directions.

The film opens in its middle: with a bugged-out Iris welcoming her understandably unnerved best pal Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) into a just-creepy-enough farmhouse...

The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights for “Julian,” the debut feature from Belgian director Cato Kusters. The film is set to premiere in the Discovery section at Toronto Film Festival.

“Julian” marks the first majority production from The Reunion, the new production company of Belgian filmmaker brothers Lukas and Michiel Dhont, the writer-director and producer, respectively, of 2022 Cannes Grand Prix winner and 2023 Oscar nominee “Close.”

Both “Close” and Lukas Dhont’s debut “Girl,” which won Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2018, were represented by The Match Factory.

Kusters works as an editor and director on short films and music videos. Her graduation short “Finn’s Heel” (2022) won the jury prize at the Ghent Film Festival and the audience award for best international short film at the Festival de Films de Femmes. The film caught the attention of the Dhont brothers, and she began developing “Julian” with them in 2022.

“Julian...

Exclusive:Rome-based sales outfit True Colours has picked up Italian director Franco Maresco’s Bravo Bene! (Un Film Fatto Per Bene), which will premiere in Venice’s main competition in September.

Maresco was previously in Venice competition with Mafia Is Not What It Used To Be (2019), and won the special jury award in Venice Horizons for 2014’s Belluscone.

The film is produced by Lucky Red, Dugong Films and Eolo Film Productions, and will be released in Italy by Lucky Red.

Bravo Bene! tells the story of Maresco himself filming a picture about legendary Italian actor, poet and director Carmelo Bene which...

Sherwood Schwartz's 1964 sitcom "Gilligan's Island" is a zany slapstick comedy series, yes, but there's something undeniably classical about it. Although its characters were trapped on an uncharted desert island, and there seemed to be little hope for escape, there was an undercurrent of oblivious optimism at the show's core. The seven stranded castaways were depressed by their plight yet chipper and upbeat on a daily basis. They resembled Voltaire's Candide in this regard. They are living in the best possible world.

One can also easily compare "Gilligan's Island" to "The Myth of Sisyphus," Albert Camus' treatise on the philosophical pleasures of futility. The castaways may be trapped in an unending loop of hope and despair, often poised to be rescued only to see the effort fail once again, but there is a whimsical joy to accepting the absurdity of their plight. One may also compare "Gilligan's Island" to the characters in Commedia Dell'Arte,...

Twenty-three world premieres representing more than 30 countries have been selected for the Discovery programme at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, among them the directing debut of US alternative comedian John Early and three films from the UK.

Discovery showcases the first or second features by directors from around the world, with past participants having included Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan, Yorgos and Barry Jenkins.

Early’s satire about content culture, Maddie’s Secret, is the opening night film in this year’s Discovery section, and one of only two US titles in the line-up.

Other...

Francis Ford Coppola is already planning to re-release “Megalopolis.” The auteur has famously recut a slew of his most iconic features, including “Apocalypse Now.” Soon, “Megalopolis” will also be revisited in the edit room, with Coppola teasing that the proudly Razzie award-winning epic will be “more weird” with the recut.

“It was [originally] more weird,” Coppola said during the New Jersey leg of his tour for the 2024 film (via the World of Reel). “I own the picture, I can do anything I want with it.” The recut will include added deleted dream sequences that will make the film “weirder.”

Coppola said that he cut certain sequences from the final film “because already people were saying this film was so weird.”

“Megalopolis” stars Adam Driver as architect Cesar Catilina, who strives to create a utopian city while battling Mayor Franklyn Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito). Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, and Aubrey Plaza...

Clark Backo, Drew Ray Tanner, Olivia Luccardi and Graham Verchere will star in “Split Rock.” The film is described as a “supernatural, ecological-horror story” and will be directed by Ryan Glover. It’s produced by Low End, Prowler Pictures and Observer Effect Productions, and backed by Telefilm Canada and Creative Saskatchewan.

Backo has appeared in “Venom: The Last Dance” and “The Changeling”; Tanner is best known for his work on “Riverdale”; Luccardi appeared in “It Follows”; and Verchere’s credits include “Summer of 84.” Glover previously directed “The Strings.”

The story involves geologists Lauren (Backo) and Ben (Tanner), partners in both work and life, as they investigate a strange anomaly discovered deep in the terrain. Alongside their colleague Sam (Luccardi) and intern Trevor (Verchere), the group must navigate an escalating series of horrors that starts once they uncover an ancient force of destruction buried in the ground. The film is...

Jenna Ortega and Tim Burton are continuing their creative partnership with yet another installment of “Wednesday.” THR first reported that the hit Netflix series has already been renewed for Season 3 ahead of the Season 2 premiere; “Wednesday” Season 2, Part 1 will debut August 6, with Part 2 streaming September 3.

Ortega stars as the title character teen whose high school experience at the Nevermore Academy has more than a few hauntings. The wildly popular “Addams Family”-inspired series is directed and executive produced by Burton, with Ortega also producing. “Wednesday” is created by showrunners and EPs Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.

Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria told THR that the success of “Wednesday” “went beyond analytics: People watched it again and again and brought their parents into it, and it became a multigenerational show. There were soldiers in Ukraine doing the Wednesday dance.” She hinted of possible spinoffs, “There’s a lot to explore in the Addams Family.

The Match Factory has taken international sales outside North America on Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel’s hotly anticipated documentary “Nuestra Tierra” (“Landmarks”) ahead of its premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

Cinetic Media will be handling sales in North America. The Match Factory will handle all other territories on “Nuestra Tierra” that is set to launch from the Lido in an out-of-competition slot.

Lucrecia Martel is among Latin American cinema’s most prominent auteurs. Her credits include psychological thriller “The Headless Woman,” period drama “Zama,” and, more recently, Björk’s concert film “Cornucopia.” She presided over the main Venice fest jury in 2019.

Martel’s long-gestating “Nuestra Tierra” – which marks her first non-fiction film – is a creative documentary exploring the subject of land ownership and indigenous struggles in Latin America.

The doc reconstructs the 2009 murder of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar, leader of the Chuschagasta indigenous community in northern Argentina by a white landowner.

The advent of fall festival season is officially upon us, with Venice and Toronto unveiling their initial lineups as the industry begins looking ahead to the next awards race. One highlight of the TIFF lineup was Aziz Ansari’s “Good Fortune,” which will be premiering in Toronto before Lionsgate releases it in theaters this October. And with a cast that includes Ansari, Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer, and Keanu Reeves (who plays a guardian angel), it could very well become one of the breakout hits of the fall.

Per an official synopsis, the film follows Arj (Ansari), a financially struggling gig economy worker who crosses paths with a tech giant (Rogen) during one of the lowest points in his life. The encounter is overseen by a rather inept angel named Gabriel (Reeves) who grants Arj the opportunity of a lifetime to swap places with his wealthy counterpart to see if the...

At 6 feet 4 inches, Liam Neeson is as physically imposing as he is talented. This combination of attributes has helped him build a vast and decorated acting career that started in the late 1970s and features everything from esteemed drama films to high-profile genre fiction and a lengthy late-career pivot to action roles. However, sometimes even Neeson's towering presence has failed to impress.

While promoting 2025's "The Naked Gun," Neeson and his co-star Pamela Anderson sat down with Entertainment Weekly to fact-check some of the claims on their IMDb pages and other websites. One of the assertions that surfaced was that the most embarrassing moment in Neeson's acting career was his audition for "The Princess Bride," where director Rob Reiner was less than impressed to find out how tall Neeson was. Of course, a lot of this had to do with the particular role he was auditioning for -- and as Neeson himself admitted,...

Luca Guadagnino’s “After the Hunt” will kick off the 63rd New York Film Festival as its opening night feature.

The film boasts an all-star cast led by Julia Roberts in a story about the impact of an alleged sexual assault on an Ivy League campus. Michael Stuhlbarg, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny and Andrew Garfield co-star in “After the Hunt,” which Amazon MGM Studios backed. Nora Garrett wrote the screenplay.

Previous opening night films at the festival have included Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman,” Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” and Todd Haynes’ “May December.” RaMell Ross’s “Nickle Boys” opened last year’s edition.

Billed as the film’s North American premiere, “After the Hunt” will return Guadagnino to the festival, a place where he previously screened “Call Me by Your Name” and “Queer.” “After the Hunt” will screen at Alice Tully Hall on Friday, September 26, with Guadagnino...