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When Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis' wordless wonder Flow won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at this year's Oscars, not only did it become the first truly independent animated film to scoop the top gong to date, but Zilbalodis' plucky black cat and its pals also beat Pixar and DreamWorks in the process. No mean feat given Pixar's Inside Out 2 had, at the time, just become the highest grossing animated movie ever made. Now, perhaps sensing a growing appetite among animation lovers for more original efforts, Pixar has today revealed at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival that Luca director Enrico Casarosa is making his own feline feature, Gatto, slated for release in 2027. And you can see a piece of concept art for the movie below;

Set to blend a Pixar first hand-painted animation style with the studio's usual CG wizardry, Casarosa's new movie will see the filmmaker...

Plot: A lonely Hawaiian girl befriends a runaway alien, helping to mend her fragmented family.

Review: With Snow White recently releasing and absolutely bombing, Disney is in a weird place with its live-action adaptations. Once seen as a cash cow, there’s a lot of speculation regarding their future. But if there’s a new interpretation of a cartoon that I was actually looking forward to, it was Lilo & Stitch. I take up the stance that there are plenty of people out there who refuse to watch cartoons. Adapt the story and tweak it so it fits live action, but follow the same script as the cartoon. It’s what all the best of these Disney films have managed to do. Meanwhile, the worst of them try to become something else entirely. So, where does Lilo & Stitch fall?

It’s going to be hard to not just constantly compare this to the original,...

The cast and crew of the forthcoming live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch are celebrating its upcoming release at the El Capitan Theatre on Saturday (May 17) in Hollywood!

Lilo & Stitch is the story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family. Maia Kealoha plays Lilo, while Chris Sanders voices Stitch. The live-action reimagining of Disney’s 2002 animated classic opens exclusively in movie theaters on May 23 in Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, Cinemark Xd, 4Dx, and premium screens everywhere.

Cast members attending the celebration included Maia, Chris, Courtney B. Vance, Zach Galifianakis, Sydney Elizebeth Agudong, Billy Magnussen, Kaipo Dudoit, and Amy Hill. They were joined by director Dean Fleischer Camp, screenwriters Chris Kekaniokalani Bright and Mike Van Waes, producer Jonathan Eirich, executive producers Tom Peitzman, Ryan Halprin, and Louie Provost, composer Dan Romer, and soundtrack artists Iam Tongi, Nyjah Music, and Zyah Rhythm.

Other premiere guests included Allison Holker,...

Los Angeles, California – May 17: (L-r) Asad Ayaz, Chief Brand Officer, The Walt Disney Company and President, Marketing, The Walt Disney Studios and Disney+, Chris Sanders, Jonathan Eirich, Billy Magnussen, Alan Bergman, Co-Chairman, Disney Entertainment, Zach Galifianakis, Maia Kealoha, Sydney Agudong, Courtney B. Vance, Kaipo Dudoit, Dean Fleischer Camp, Amy Hill and David Greenbaum, President, Disney Live Action and 20th Century Studios attend the world premiere of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on May 17, 2025. (Photo by Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images for Disney) As the cast and creatives behind the much awaited live-action reinterpretation of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch came together to mark its impending release, ”Ahana’ was alive and well in Hollywood. The blue carpet in front of the legendary El Capitan Theatre was converted into a vivid Hawaiian party. Among the many themed events offered to visitors, creating what was the ideal atmosphere...

Ramin Djawadi was a successful composer before he crafted the opening theme song for Game of Thrones, but that thing really put him on the map. Since then his career has exploded. In addition to composing many iconic songs played on Game of Thrones, he also worked on shows like Westworld, Eternals, 3 Body Problem, and the Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon. And why not? The person who composed this banger should be rewarded:

That opening theme song is so memorable that HBO used it again for House of the Dragon; the third season of that show will air sometime next year. Soon, HBO will premiere a new Game of Thrones prequel series: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on George R.R. Martin's Tales of Dunk and Egg novellas. And it sounds like this will be the first Game of Thrones show not to benefit from Djawadi's talents.

Settle the score with the Death of a Unicorn soundtrack on vinyl from A24.

The score is composed by Dan Romer and Giousuè Greco. It also features “Doa” by St. Vincent.

Pressed on majestic purple swirl vinyl, the album costs $30 and is expected to ship in June.

Side A:

I Don’t Think It’s Dead What’s In Your Car? What We Stand To Gain The Seven Tapestries Get It Cracking Here’s To Being Reborn

Side B:

Wherever They Take Us I Think I Made A Mistake Some Kind Of Current It Won’t Stay Dead Good Job, Partner Doa (St. Vincent)

In theaters now, Death of a Unicorn is a fantastical nightmare comedy from writer-director Alex Scharfman and producer Ari Aster (Midsommar, Hereditary).

Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant star. Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes, and Stephen Park round out the cast.

St. Vincent has released “Doa,” a new song she created for the A24 horror comedy Death of a Unicorn, and added a handful of summer US tour dates. Stream the track below.

Released alongside the movie’s theatrical debut, the song was written, recorded, and performed entirely by Annie Clark, with mixing by Cian Riordan. Propelled by ’80s synths, “Doa” is an ode to the film’s (not-so) mythical creature.

Get St. Vincent Tickets Here

“Right as I had stopped believing in miracles,” St. Vincent sings. “In comes a unicorn right in front of me/ Oh you’re wild but child you gotta run next to me/ You are the ecstasy in the center of the whole world.”

Written and directed by Alex Scharfman, Death of a Unicorn stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant. The film’s score was composed by Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco.

Grammy winner St. Vincent has released a new song titled “Doa” from the Death of a Unicorn soundtrack. Check out the visualizer, directed by Anna Chandler, below.

The film’s full soundtrack, featuring the score by Dan Romer and Giousuè Greco, is out now.

In theaters today from A24, Death of a Unicorn is a fantastical nightmare comedy from writer-director Alex Scharfman and producer Ari Aster (Midsommar, Hereditary).

Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant star. Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes, and Stephen Park round out the cast.

A father (Rudd) and daughter (Ortega) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss (Grant) seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review out of SXSW, “The idea behind Death of a Unicorn is a novel one, and Scharfman’s...

While certain Disney live-action remakes have been decent, or at least tolerable, others have been borderline disastrous. Thankfully, Disney is not the only company that has delved into fairy tale adaptations, as some other interpretations have been far more successful.

Whether these non-Disney efforts further empower classic characters, provide a new spin on familiar stories, or offer visual feasts, they are all absolutely worth a watch. Perhaps these ten films will serve as reminders that fairy tales can still be fresh and exciting.

Wendy Takes a Different Approach to Peter Pan 2020, Streaming on Hulu and Disney+ Image via Searchlight Pictures

Director Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy takes the tenth spot on this list because it is far from perfect but still delightfully unique and ambitious. The film focuses on the heroine, Wendy, and her friends, the “Lost Boys. ". Instead of fully transporting the children to Neverland, though, Zeitlin’s story keeps them painfully close to reality.

Plot: A lawyer (Paul Rudd) and his daughter (Jenna Ortega) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn on the way to spend the weekend with his clients, a wealthy big-pharma family with a dying patriarch (Richard E. Grant). Once the family realizes the unicorn possesses healing powers, they try to use its body to their own illicit ends, only to discover these mythical creatures are far more dangerous than mythic lore suggests.

Review: Death of a Unicorn has a lot more unicorn-based carnage than I expected. Going into the film, I told myself that if I saw at least one person impaled by a unicorn horn, I’d be happy, but I didn’t realize the movie was a lot more ambitious in that regard. People do get impaled, but they also get ripped to pieces, split in half, crushed under hoofs and much gorier.

While I definitely enjoyed watching the...

Horror icon John Carpenter returns. The filmmaking icon best known for the likes of Halloween, The Thing, and Escape from New York has said "yes" to a big-screen comeback. While he won't direct, Carpenter will revisit his film composing skills, as he agrees to create the score for Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho's mysterious upcoming horror action film.

Carpenter and Bong Joon-ho appeared together at a 4K restoration screening of 1982's The Thing, the horror sci-fi classic starring Kurt Russell. Bong, accompanied by his translator, was the moderator for a Q&a session after the screening (via X/Twitter user @karenyhan). Of course, the director of Academy Award-winner Parasite used the opportunity to talk about his future projects. Already turning the page on his recent sci-fi comedy Mickey 17 (which sadly has faltered a little at the box office despite strong reviews), Bong is now developing several new projects. His...

St. Vincent has announced that she is releasing a new song as part of the soundtrack for A24’s Death of a Unicorn. “Doa” will be released on March 28th alongside the horror film’s premiere in the United States.

“Doa” is entirely an Annie Clark affair; she wrote, produced, and performed the track, with mixing by Cian Riordan. Meanwhile, Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco composed the film’s score.

Get St. Vincent Tickets Here

Death of a Unicorn stars Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd as a father-daughter duo on a work retreat gone awry after accidentally killing the first known unicorn. When they notify their companions on said work trip, the group seeks to exploit the animal, which they believe will provide them with medical cures. While Ortega tries to persuade them to halt testing, the unicorn’s parents decimate the houseguests in retribution.

Most recently, St. Vincent won three Grammys in February,...

St. Vincent has announced that she is releasing a new song as part of the soundtrack for A24’s Death of a Unicorn. “Doa” will be released on March 28th alongside the horror film’s premiere in the United States.

“Doa” is entirely an Annie Clark affair; she wrote, produced, and performed the track, with mixing by Cian Riordan. Meanwhile, Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco composed the film’s score.

Get St. Vincent Tickets Here

Death of a Unicorn stars Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd as a father-daughter duo on a work retreat gone awry after accidentally killing the first known unicorn. When they notify their companions on said work trip, the group seeks to exploit the animal, which they believe will provide them with medical cures. While Ortega tries to persuade them to halt testing, the unicorn’s parents decimate the houseguests in retribution.

Most recently, St. Vincent won three Grammys in February,...

Kyle Hausmann-Stokes enlisted in the army shortly after 9/11 and spent five years in Iraq as a paratrooper. He’s spent the time since his military experience working on furthering veterans’ lives by spreading awareness about their issues through commercial work. Nearly twenty years later, he’s shifted his focus to the narrative filmmaking world, creating My Dead Friend Zoe, a sweetly funny film about post-military life.

My Dead Friend Zoe Review

Hausmann-Stokes first feature stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Merit, a young woman whose experience back at home is rocked by a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder. As the title suggests, her dead friend, Zoe (No Hard Feelings‘s Natalie Morales), plays an integral part as her imaginary friend — a familiar coping device in dramedies like this. As she navigates her life through the Va, her dying grandfather, and a new relationship, she learns to persevere.

It’s a pretty...

If anyone is all-too-aware of the issue of gun violence in America, it is high school students. A group of 19 of them have set out to change society by changing its entertainment.

Over the last three years, the Project Unloaded Youth Council, comprised of kids and young adults ages 16-20, have tracked the number of guns seen on broadcast television. The group found 33 percent of all TV episodes studied in fall 2024 featured at least one firearm, itself a 33 percent increase from fall 2023. Our preferred platform for the first amendment is really using that second amendment liberally.

The council studied every hour of broadcast primetime television during the final week in September for each of the past three years. The council members logged the type of show, whether a gun was shown, whether it was fired, and in what context a gun was shown and fired.

Far and away this year,...

Woman of the Hour, the 2024 Netflix movie directed by and starring Anna Kendrick, follows the chilling true-crime story of a serial killer who appeared on The Dating Game in the late 1970s. The film’s score, composed by Dan Romer (Luca) and Mike Tuccillo (Ramy), sets the tone for this unsettling narrative, while the expertly selected needle-drops enhance its retro atmosphere. Here’s a breakdown of the Woman of the Hour Soundtrack, including every song featured in the movie that offers a mix of soul, funk, and emotional ballads that resonate with the era.

What is the movie about?

Set in 1978, the film follows the real-life event where Cheryl Bradshaw, portrayed by Kendrick as the character Sheryl, participates in a popular TV show called The Dating Game. The show’s premise involves a bachelorette asking questions to three bachelors hidden behind a wall, choosing one for a date. Unbeknownst to her,...

Warning! This post contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour.

Woman of the Hour not only walks through a gripping true-crime drama but also effectively enhances the emotional heft of its story by coupling some of its crucial moments with immersive background scores. Set in the late 1970s, Woman of the Hour avoids adopting a quasi-documentary style like more Netflix true-crime dramas. Instead of walking through Rodney Alcala's long line of murders, the movie primarily revolves around a segment of his timeline, revealing how many systemic issues and injustices towards women allowed him to get away with his criminal actions for a long time.

Throughout its runtime, Woman of the Hour features scenes that only have strong dialogue with no unnecessary background scores. However, there are other moments in the film where the background songs play a crucial role in setting the emotional tone and atmosphere of its story developments.

Plot: The true story of an actress (Anna Kendrick) who, in the seventies, went on The Dating Game and was matched with Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), who was later revealed to be a serial killer that may have murdered up to 130 women.

Woman of the Hour was originally reviewed at TIFF 2023

Review: The story behind Woman of the Hour is pretty wild, even as far as true crime goes. While the movie takes several significant liberties with her story, a young actress named Cheryl Bradshaw really did go on The Dating Game in 1978 and chose serial killer Rodney Alcala as her match. While the premise is thin, as there wasn’t much to Bradshaw’s interactions with Alcala beyond the show, Anna Kendrick, who makes her directorial debut from a Black List script by Ian MacAllister McDonald, has put together a chilling film.

Much of the film enters around Alcala’s murder spree,...

Whenever a movie needs a leading man who can bring a commanding presence defined by grim stoicism, buried compassion, and slivers of menace, its hard to think of a better actor for the job than Mads Mikkelsen. His latest, Nikolaj Arcels historical epic The Promised Land, is a more personal work that clearly means a lot to him, especially when viewed in comparison to the quite uneven franchise films hes gotten caught up in as of late. In many regards, his new Danish Western feels distinctly old-fashioned in both its tone and Mikkelsens measured approach to the material. It is a grim historical epic that, while not without its moments of lightheartedness, is wrapped up in a cold blanket that provides no protection from the harsh world it inhabits as composer Dan Romer's sweeping score washes over you. The film is beautiful to behold in many moments, but, much...

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Hmma) today announced the 2023 nominees for scores and songs in film and other visual media categories. The awards will be presented Wednesday, November 15, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. (Pst) at The Avalon, 1735 Vine Street, in Hollywood, CA.

Song nominees include Oscar-winners Billie Eilish and Finneas for “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie, Olivia Rodrigo and Dan Nigro for “Can’t Catch Me Now” from Hunger Games: The Ballard of Songbirds & Snakes. Justin Timberlake, Alan Menken, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lenny Kravitz, Diane Warren, Metro Boomin, and A$AP Rocky also received nods for their original songs in films.

Composers nominated include Alexandre Desplat, Michael Giacchino, Ludwig Göransson, Laura Karpman, Branford Marsalis, Thomas Newman, James Newton Howard, Daniel Pemberton, John Powell, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Robbie Robertson, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, Hans Zimmer (The Creator), among many others.

Films nominated in score, song, onscreen performance, and in...

Last year, Anna Kendrick starred in Mary Nighy’s disquieting drama of abuse Alice, Darling. The actress played a woman undone by her partner’s psychological manipulations, pulling from her own experiences in an abusive relationship to shape the character. Her performance — sensitive, gripping — sustained the film’s atmosphere of dread.

In Woman of the Hour, Kendrick builds on the work she started in Alice, Darling — but now she is also behind the camera for this unnerving dramatization of serial killer Rodney Alcala’s appearance on a dating game show while in the midst of his murder spree. Woman of the Hour, which premiered at TIFF before its Netflix acquisition, is an ambitious attempt to subvert true-crime genre expectations by giving voice to the survivors and victims of Alcala’s rampage.

The film experiments with time jumps and perspective shifts to create an impressionistic portrait of the murders. Its action kicks off in 1977 with Rodney,...

The second night of the Creative Arts Emmys will take place on Sunday night, where hot races such as guest acting, music and stunts will be revealed.

History could be made with “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers” from Disney+ could be the first animated movie to win for outstanding television movie, after becoming the first ever to be nominated.

However, we could see if HBO will be in line to make history if it takes the category for Barry Levinson’s “The Survivor.” HBO is able to win all the top series categories for drama (“Succession”), comedy (“Barry” or “Hacks”) and limited (“The White Lotus”). It would be the first network in history to win all four if achieved.

The guest categories are going to give some hints to the Primetime ceremony taking place on Monday, Sept. 12. We could see Nathan Lane win his long overdue Emmy for his role...

Since the TV academy began regularly honoring original music scores in the 1960s, there has essentially always been a clear distinction between compositions for continuing and limited series. The Best Music for Limited Series Emmy category was established early on in order to adequately recognize the music behind single-season or one-off scripted programs apart from traditional comedy and drama series. This year’s five contenders are about as eclectic as can be, with plots that collectively span multiple centuries and continents.

The current Best Music for Limited Series nominees are “1883” (Paramount+), “Moon Knight” (Disney+), “Station Eleven” (HBO Max), “A Very British Scandal” (Prime Video) and “The White Lotus” (HBO). To determine which one is most likely to take the gold, let’s take a look at each score individually. Be sure to make your Emmy predictions in this and 26 other Creative Arts categories by September 3.

“1883” — Music by Brian Tyler...

We live in a world of 500-plus scripted TV series a year, where there is literally more programming than anyone can watch (even those of us whose only job is watching television). So discussing Emmy snubs feels somewhat beside the point, and any new show or performer breaking into a category filled with past nominees should almost by definition qualify as a surprise.

But even so, there was a lot to be unexpectedly happy about within this year’s nominees, as well as some disappointing — or even startling — absences. Here...

“I don’t think I’ll ever work on a show like this again or have this kind of experience again,” declares Emmy-nominated director Jeremy Podeswa (“Boardwalk Empire,” “Game of Thrones,” “The Pacific”) about the emotional impact that working on “Station Eleven,” had on him personally. “Watching the show, there’s a lot of cathartic, very moving, very powerful moments, even though there is humor and other things too. But at the end of the day, when we were doing these scenes that were really powerful, and there were many of them, we were all incredibly moved, and I was crying all the time,” he shares, adding for our recent webchat. Also serving as executive producer, he adds that “it allowed us to have this release through the characters and through the story, and it was really meaningful I think for everybody.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See over...

“It’s a strange thing to have had this opportunity, but I’m so grateful to have been able to pack my own experiences over the last couple of years inside of the making of the show,” declares producer Nate Matteson about “Station Eleven,” set in the aftermath of a flu pandemic that wipes out most of civilization. Both Matteson and producing partner Hiro Murai, who also directed the pilot (for which he was recently nominated for a DGA Award) and third episode in the series, appear genuinely moved by the experience of bringing this series to life when the world was collectively living through a real-life pandemic.

“We were isolated for so long and we were all trying to figure out how to emotionally cope with the idea of a pandemic and our need for community,” explains Murai. “It weirdly became a great place for us to figure out...

“It’s hard to tell really earnest stories. It’s easier to tell a cynical or horrifying story,” declares Mackenzie Davis about about “Station Eleven,” the HBO Max limited series set in the aftermath of a fictional catastrophic pandemic that wipes out most of civilization. For our recent webchat she adds, “I loved the mission of the series, which was to tell a post-apocalyptic story without using any of the tropes or easy markers of a post-apocalyptic story. So, rather than savage humanity, and non-stop bloodshed, it was art and the things that are actually worth living for,” she says. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

“Station Eleven” was created by Patrick Somerville, based on the 2014 sci-fi/fantasy novel of the same name by Emily St. John Mandel. Twenty years after a flu pandemic wipes out most of the world, a group of survivors who make their living as traveling...

“There’s something about strings that really emulate human voices,” declares composer Dan Romer about the profound human emotion that string instruments like the cello and violin so often elicit in music. For our recent webchat about his acclaimed original score for “Station Eleven,” he adds that “there’s something about the swell and the shakiness of strings that reminds us of our own voices more than other instruments.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

The HBO Max limited series is set in the aftermath of a fictional catastrophic pandemic that wipes out most of civilization. Romer’s ambitious score features a blend of immersive, ambient synth elements and plucky, percussive strings on the one hand, and then rousing melodies that evoke the series life-affirming core theme — that in the face of the hardship and loss that follows a world-ending catastrophe like a perilous global pandemic, art, music and theater live on and sustain humanity.

Deadline has launched the streaming site for its second annual Sound & Screen, an award-season composer showcase of original music for television.

Click here to launch the streaming site.

The event May 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall featured a 50-person orchestra spotlighting the music from composers Daniel Pemberton, Sean Callery, Amanda Jones, Dan Romer, Jeff Russo and Nico Muhly; composer-songwriters Tom Mizer & Curtis Moore; and music supervisor Jen Malone all of whom took part in post-performance Q&As to discuss their work. The night also featured a special virtual performance by Mick Jagger.

The studios and streamers who took part included Amazon Studios/Prime Video with The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Apple TV+ with Pachinko, Slow Horses and The Afterparty; CBS Studios with Star Trek: Picard and The Man Who Fell to Earth; HBO/HBO Max with Euphoria, Station Eleven, Somebody Somewhere and A Black Lady Sketch Show; National Geographic with Welcome to Earth...

Crafting the music for HBO’s postapocalyptic miniseries Station Eleven offered composer Dan Romer the unique opportunity to create a score that informs itself as new episodes unfold.

“The really fun thing about [the project] is that the actual score starts learning from the songs as the show goes,” Romer explained at Deadline’s Sound & Screen event at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

“It’s not supposed to go the other way around: the songs aren’t aware of the score, but the scores were the songs,” said Romer, whose music credits include the scores for Beasts of the Southern Wild and Luca and producing tracks for Shawn Mendes and pop duo A Great Big World. “So it’s really fun palette to play with. It was like, ‘Oh, we have this melody that they sing. Let’s put that melody in the Shakespeare [play scenes] and let’s put that Shakespeare melody in the score.

Deadline’s Sound & Screen, a showcase of television’s most moving and lauded original music from some of the industry’s top-most talent, has lifted the baton for its second edition tonight live and in person at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Attendees of the awards-season event, which kicked off at 6:30 p.m. Pt, will be transported through the melodic sounds of these programs from a 50-piece orchestra, followed by sit-downs with the composers, conductors and music supervisors behind the works.

Scores facilitate in carrying the audience’s emotions and heighten senses in a way that would not be possible with just dialogue. Imagine HBO’s Euphoria without its hypnotic and genre-bending soundtrack? Or being marched ahead through the final frontier in CBS Studios’ Star Trek: Picard without its ethereal score? Or being carried through the sweeping migrant saga of Apple TV+’s Pachinko without its gentle orchestral melodies?

This year,...

The announcement of winners for the ASCAP Screen Music Awards, being held virtually again for 2022 and announced Monday morning, included revealing the top vote-getters for several Composers’ Choice Awards, including the scores for “Encanto” and “The White Lotus.”

Germaine Franco prevailed for film score of the year for “Encanto.” Cristobal Tapia de Veer won two of these peer-voted awards, for television score of the year and television theme as well, for “The White Lotus. The video game score of the year honor went to Wataru Hokoyama for “Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart.” Triumphing in the documentary score of the year category was Amanda Jones for “Dreamland: The Burning of Black Wall Street.”

Those five Composers’ Choice Awards come on top of ASCAP’s traditional Screen Music Awards, which collect date to honor the most-consumed music of the year in the fields of TV, film and video games, with dozens of winners cited.

Sound & Screen, Deadline’s inaugural live concert showcasing the composers, music supervisors and songwriters behind the music of television’s buzziest shows, has set the lineup for its in-person event May 5 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

The free-to-attend evening will feature a 50-piece orchestra performing songs from 12 featured series, followed by panelists talking about their respective works. Those include some of the biggest names in music, from a virtual performance by The Rolling Stones icon Mick Jagger for Apple TV+’s Slow Horses to in-person discussions with composers Daniel Pemberton, Amanda Jones, Sean Callery, Nico Muhly, Jeff Russo and Dan Romer; composer-songwriters Tom Mizer and Curtis Moore; and music supervisor Jen Malone.

The lineup features Amazon Studios’ The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Apple TV+’s Pachinko, Slow Horses and The Afterparty; HBO/HBO Max’s Euphoria, Station Eleven, Somebody Somewhere and A Black Lady Sketch Show; CBS Studios’ Star Trek: Picard...

Gold Derby’s experts currently list the Pixar film “Luca” in fourth place in their Best Animated Feature odds. Twenty experts predict Disney’s “Encanto” will win, while one forecasts Netflix’s “The Mitchells vs. the Machines” and one chooses Neon’s “Flee.” The only film listed behind “Luca” at the moment is Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon.”

But I would suggest “Luca” should get more attention and consideration in the category because it’s a marvelously inventive tale of friendship, love, the need for change, and finding your own path. Telling the story of a half-human, half-sea monster who experiences an unforgettable seaside summer on the Italian Riviera, “Luca” marks the feature directorial debut of Enrico Casarosa, director of the Oscar-nominated 2011 Pixar short, “La Luna.” The original story was penned by Jesse Andrews and Mike Jones.

See 2022 Oscar nominations: Full list of nominees in all 23 categories at...

Nominees for this year’s ASCAP Composers’ Choice Awards have been announced, with scores for films like “Dune” and “The Power of the Dog,” TV series like “Loki” and “The White Lotus” and video games like “Call of Duty” among the contenders.

These competitive awards, voted on by members of ASCAP, will be given out during the week of May 2 as part of the 2022 ASCAP Screen Music Awards, alongside the non-voted honors that reward the composers of the most-performed scores and themes of the year.

Up for film score of the year are Hans Zimmer, for “Dune”; Germaine Franco, for “Encanto”; Daniel Hart, for “The Green Knight”; Dan Romer, for “Luca”; and Radiohead member-turned-maestro Jonny Greenwood for “The Power of the Dog.”

Zimmer, Franco and Greenwood have already been nominated for the Academy Awards this month for their work on those films.

Nods for television score went to Michael Abels,...

With its unparalleled mixture of dazzling visuals and literate screenplays, Pixar Animation Studio remains the gold standard in feature film animation. Critics have raved and audiences have flocked to most of the 24 feature films produced by the studio since 1995. With such adulation, awards attention has understandably followed, and Pixar’s success in garnering industry honors is unrivaled by most contemporary animation studios. From the studio’s 24 features, Pixar films have been nominated for 53 Academy Awards, winning 18 Oscars along the way. What may be most impressive, however, is Pixar’s success in the category of Best Animated Feature. In the 20 years since the category was first introduced, 11 Pixar films have won that coveted award. Hoping to make it number 12 this year is Pixar’s latest entry, “Luca.”

Directed by Enrico Casarosa (who was Oscar-nominated for his 2012 animated short “La Luna”), “Luca” is a sun-filled fable set in the summer of 1959 in...

Editors note: Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series debuts and celebrates the scripts of films that will be factors in this year’s movie awards race.

His name is Luca. He lives on the ocean floor. If you subscribe to Disney+ you may have seen him before.

Pixar’s latest movie takes a different perspective on the ocean from Finding Nemo. Where Nemo anthropomorphized real marine life, Luca creates a world of sea monsters, though they are also a family just like humans. Luca (voice of Jacob Tremblay) wants to go exploring, but his mother Daniela (Maya Rudolph) wants to keep him close and safe.

Fellow sea monster Alberto (Jack Dylan Grazer) shows Luca they can turn human when they emerge from the water. So, Luca spends the summer palling around with Alberto in the seaside town of Portorosso, where they make friends with Giulia (Emma Berman). But, any water...

Disney’s “Raya and the Last Dragon,” the studio’s first Southeast Asian action-adventure, led Asifa-Hollywood’s 49th Annie Awards with 10 nominations, including best animated feature. Disney’s Colombian-set musical “Encanto,” followed with nine nods, while Pixar’s Italian-set “Luca” tied for eight with Sony Animation/Netflix’s innovative, 2D-inspired “The Mitchells vs. The Machines.” This year’s ceremony is scheduled to return live on Saturday, February 26, 2022 at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

The best feature noms went to “Raya,” (from “Big Hero Six” Oscar-winning director Don Hall), “Encanto”, “Luca,” “The Mitchells” (from “Spider-Verse” Oscar-winning producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller), and Illumination’s “Sing 2.” The competitive studio race for best feature could go Disney’s way or “The Mitchells'” (winner of the NYFCC animated feature award).

The race for best independent feature, meanwhile, was led by GKids’ “Belle,” the metaverse “Beauty and the Beast”-inspired musical from director Mamoru Hosoda...

Netflix’s investment in animation has paid off in a big way, as the streamer picked up a whopping 52 nominations at the 49th Annie Awards. Following behind is Disney, which received 29 bids between its film and TV projects.

Taking place on Feb. 26, 2022 at UCLA’s Royce Hall and presented by the Los Angeles branch of the International Animated Film Association, the Annie Awards recognize excellence in cinema and television.

Netflix picked up nine nominations for “Arcane,” its series based on Riot Games’ online multiplayer game “League of Legends.” The hit film from Sony Pictures Animation “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” earned eight nods, and Netflix’s own limited series “Maya and the Three,” directed by Jorge Gutierrez, has seven.

While Disney lagged behind Netflix for total nominations, the studio’s “Raya and the Last Dragon” led all content with 10 nominations, followed by its studio sibling “Encanto,” which picked up nine.

Composer Dan Romer studied Italian music extensively to prepare for “Luca,” the new Italy-set film from Pixar. Enrico Casarosa, the film’s director, gave him playlists of Italian film scores and songs, which the composer then listened to over and over again to get the style ingrained in his head. While Casarosa wanted the film to reflect his own childhood growing up in Italy, he also wanted Romer to bring his own experience to the score. “He said, ‘I want a Dan Romer score to this film, but I want it to feel like an Italian version of it,'” recalls the composer in an exclusive new interview for Gold Derby. Watch the full video chat above.

The “Luca” score contains numerous instruments — on top of traditional piano and strings, it features the mandolin, classical guitar and the accordion, which are all commonly found in Italian film scores. What he...

Best original song Oscar contenders Beyoncé and Van Morrison are among those who received nominations in the visual media categories at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Hmma). Composers Hans Zimmer and Nicholas Britell were included among the familiar names picking up nods in the score categories.

The awards will be presented Nov. 17. The HMMAs honor composers, songwriters, and music supervisors for their work in music for film, television, and videogames.

Nominations here have historically been a harbinger or guide for what nominees and winners will pop up in the Golden Globes, Oscars, Grammys and Emmys that occur later in awards season, although there is a much wider field in the HMMAs, since there are separate divisions for sci-fi, animation, documentary and independent films in the score categories. The Hollywood Music in Media Awards will feature music performances, celebrity presenters, tributes to music industry icons, awards for composers, songwriters and...

Each of the bracingly intimate films that comprise Jonas Carpignano’s loose-knit Calabrian trilogy are self-contained to a certain degree; like “Mediterranea” and “A Ciambra” before it, “A Chiara” is meant to be understood on its own. But the small handful of overlapping characters between them link their respective stories together on a macroeconomic level in a way that deepens and belies the myopia of their neorealist construction.

The triptych begins with two refugees making the perilous trek from Africa to the Italian port city of Gioia Tauro, only to find themselves exploited by the people who got there first. The next chapter takes a half-step up the local hierarchy by focusing on a young Romani boy who idolizes his racist older brother, but struggles to reconcile the hostility of that us-vs-them mindset with the warmth he feels toward his foreign new friends, and his family’s own history of...

Writer-director Jonas Carpignano completes his Calabrian trilogy with A Chiara, an enthralling drama about a teenage girl coming to terms with her family’s role in the mafia, which won the Europa Cinema Label at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes. With a documentary-like authenticity, this is a touching, powerful film with a lyrical visual palette and a superb sense of time and place.

As in Mediterranea and A Ciambra, which told stories about immigration and the Roma community, respectively, Carpignano takes us to Gioia Tauro at the southern tip of the Italian mainland. For ten years the director has embedded himself here, a place infamous for the penetration in all walks of life of the ‘Ndrangheta, the secretive mafia clan that by some accounts controls three percent of Italy’s Gdp.

A Chiara begins, like another famous mafioso movie, with a party. To the tunes of Italian trap, Guilia (Grecia Rotolo) celebrates her 18th birthday,...

Continuing its victory lap around the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, indie studio Neon has acquired the North American distribution rights to “A Chiara.”

The Jonas Carpignano film won the top prize in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight section. It is a companion film to his 2017 “A Ciambra,” for which he took the same award that year. Critics raved about the film’s exploration of young female identity and Carpignano’s ability to create enduring interest in one fictional family across multiple films.

“A Chiara” follows Claudio and Carmela Guerrasio, who gather with family and friends to celebrate their eldest daughter’s 18th birthday. There is a healthy rivalry between the birthday girl and her 15-year-old sister Chiara, as they compete on the dance floor. A happy occasion shifts suddenly when the patriarch disappears. As Chiara investigates, she discovers truths about her family and must face decisions about the kind of life she wants to build.

As we enter the second half of 2021, the shortened awards period from March 1 until June 30 doesn’t necessarily suggest we have many movies that can be deemed “Oscar-worthy.” In a denser calendar year, every studio will be angling and fighting for their probable contenders to stand out from the pack. The difference is that the Academy is back to a guaranteed 10 nominees for best picture and has left the days of fluctuating numbers behind them. An Academy voter can select 10 movies on their ballot, which the last time it was the case, in the 2009 and 2010 awards seasons, offered up eclectic choices such as Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi thriller “District 9” and John Lee Hancock’s box office smash, “The Blind Side.”

Interestingly, the first four months of the eligibility period have been dominated by animated features, a category which has not seen a nomination in best picture for its genre...

In Jim Batts’ review of the new film Luca, he says, “The music score from Dan Romer never overwhelms or dominates. This is primo Pixar, a glorious feast for the eyes and heart, as satisfying as a family pasta Sunday supper. Bravo and brava to all involved in creating one of the year’s best films, the triumph that is Luca.” Read our review here.

Walt Disney Records releases Disney and Pixar’s Luca Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, available now (https://disneymusic.co/Luca). Score is composed and produced by Dan Romer (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”). A story about two teenage sea monsters who experience a life-changing summer, Disney and Pixar’s “Luca” is now streaming exclusively on Disney+ (where Disney+ is available).

The score was recorded with an 82-piece orchestra at the Newman Recording Stage, and was orchestrated and conducted by Mark Graham. Romer performed on accordion and acoustic guitar.

It took composer Dan Romer a while to find the right Italian touch for the music of “Luca,” Disney-Pixar’s animated fantasy (opening June 18) about young sea monsters masquerading as humans on the Italian Riviera.

“Not quite Italian enough” was director Enrico Casarosa’s response to his first try. “Too Italian!” was the response to his second. Eventually Romer discovered the correct instrumental seasoning: a bit of accordion, a little mandolin, a lot of acoustic guitar and pizzicato strings — just enough to hint at the locale and the period.

“I was looking for something off the beaten path, a little bit independent,” Casarosa tells Variety about his choice for composer. The director had been a fan of Romer’s music for the Benh Zeitlin films “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and “Wendy,” and says “there was something about his scores that said ‘kids on an adventure ride,’” which nicely describes “Luca.

Check out a new clip of Pixar’s 'Luca', in which new friend Giulia invites Luca and Alberto for dinner at her imposing and intimidating dad’s place. Luca and Alberto - sea monsters who appear human on land - learn that humans’ view of sea monsters is alarming, to say the least.

Featuring Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman and Marco Barricelli as the voices of Luca, Alberto, Giulia and Massimo, 'Luca' begins streaming exclusively on Disney+ Hotstar Premium on June 18.

Pixar’s original feature film 'Luca' is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water’s surface.

The voice cast features Jacob Tremblay as Luca Paguro,...

A newly released trailer for Disney and Pixar's Luca dives deep into this coming-of-age story...with sea monsters. The movie, which will stream exclusively on Disney+ for all subscribers beginning June 18, 2021, showcases one incredible summer in the Italian seaside town of Portorosso-seen through the eyes of a sea monster named Luca. Along with the new footage, a poster has also been revealed that should have audiences and Pixar fans excited to return to the wonderful imagination of the award-winning animation studio.

Luca is Pixar Animation Studios' 24th feature film and tells a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: they are sea monsters from another world just below the water's surface.

The newly released trailer once again shows-off the vibrant colours and delightful,...

MK2 Films has boarded Italian-American filmmaker Jonas Carpignano’s anticipated movie “A Chiara” which recently wrapped shooting in Calabria, in Southern Italy.

Carpignano’s third feature, “A Chiara” is now in post and will be ready this summer. Carpignano made his feature debut in 2015 with “Mediterranea,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week. His sophomore outing, “A Ciambra,” played at Directors’ Fortnight in 2017, was submitted as Italy’s Oscar candidate, and received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best director.

“A Chiara” tells the story of 15-year-old Chiara whose close-knit family falls apart after her father abandons them in Calabria. Chiara starts to investigate to understand why her father disappeared and as she gets closer to the truth, she is forced to decide what kind of future she wants for herself.

“A Chiara” was lensed by Tim Curtin, the cinematographer of “A Ciambra,” with an original score composed by Benh Zeitlin...