Actor, singer, sex symbol and style icon Brigitte Bardot, who retired from acting and became controversial for her right-wing politics in her later years, has died. She was 91.

Bardot died Sunday at her home in southern France, according to Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals, who confirmed the news to The Associated Press. No cause of death was provided, and arrangements for funeral or memorial services have not yet been announced. She had been hospitalized last month.

In the 1950s Bardot ignited an international zeal for boldly sexual European movies, often directed by her first husband, Roger Vadim, such as “And God Created Woman.”

Though Bardot’s reign as a major box office draw was relatively brief, and she retired from films in the early ’70s, her influence was far-reaching: She made youthful, pouty, nubile blondes a staple in cinema, particularly in American movies,...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year at the box office, and the sleigh full of Christmas Day releases continued to deliver on Friday. However, it was James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” that led the pack for the second weekend in a row.

Disney’s third “Avatar” installment earned $22.6 million domestically on Friday, a roughly 39% decline from last week’s opening day. The film has grossed $46.6 million since Christmas and looks to add a total of $75 million to $80 million domestically by Sunday. North American earnings should reach $176 million by the end of the week.

Rounding out the top five were two holiday newcomers, including Jack Black and Paul Rudd’s “Anaconda” and Timothée Chalamet’s “Marty Supreme,” as well as holdovers like Disney’s “Zootopia 2” and Paul Feig’s “The Housemaid.”

A24’s “Marty Supreme” took second on Friday with $6.73 million domestically from 2,668 locations. The...

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Kevin Smith has always been a beacon for aspiring indie filmmakers to look toward. His feature debut, "Clerks," became the little indie darling that could, kicking off his career in impressive fashion. All eyes were on Smith and what he would do next. He leaned into his comic book nerd sensibilities and made "Mallrats," a buddy comedy that takes place, well, at a mall. Though the movie was a big disappointment in its day, it has since become a fan favorite. More than that, it also gave Smith the rights to Jay and Silent Bob, which greatly influenced his career from that point on.

Worldwide box office: December 26-28 RankFilm (distributor)3-day (world)Cume (world)3-day (int’l)Cume (int’l)Territories 1 Avatar: Fire And Ash (Disney) $245.2m $760.3m $181.2m $542.7m 52 2 Zootopia 2 (Disney) $87.9m $1.4bn $67.9m $1.09bn 53 3 Anaconda (Sony) $34.5m $43.6m $20m $20m 59 4 The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants (Paramount) $33.3m $60.2m $22.1m $22.1m 51 5 The Housemaid (Lionsgate) $29.2m $60.5m $13.8m $14.1m 22 6 Buen Camino (various) $29.2m $29.7m $29.2m $29.2m 1 7 Marty Supreme (A24) $19.2m $30m $1.7m $1.7m 3 8 David (Angel) $12.8m $50m $0.1m $0.2m 9 9 Dhurandhar (various) $11.3m $120.6m $9.6m $103.8m 21 10 Wicked: For Good (universal) $9.5m $503.9m $4.2m $172.3m 82

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

‘Avatar: Fire And Ash...

The latest in our series of writers highlighting their most rewatched comfort films is an ode to the charming 80s-set comedy

While casting his knockout quasi-biopic The Social Network, film-maker David Fincher must’ve really dug how eventual Mark Zuckerberg portrayer Jesse Eisenberg handled being dumped on screen. A year before the award-lassoing Facebook drama, which led to an Oscar nomination for Eisenberg, the actor agonised through the dreamy foreground of Adventureland as reluctant carny James Brennan.

The parallels between Fincher’s and Greg Mottola’s movies begin and end with their opening unceremonious separations, yet an admittedly romantic logic does allow me to soak in the notion that the...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” continued to dominate the Korean box office over the Dec. 26–28 frame, grossing $8.6 million from more than 1 million admissions, according to Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. The film has now amassed $32.5 million.

“Zootopia 2” remained a powerful No. 2, adding $3 million for the weekend and lifting its cumulative total to $50.3 million. The sequel has now crossed 7.4 million admissions, cementing its status as one of 2025’s top-performing imported animated releases.

Opening in third place was the South Korean romantic drama “Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight,” which debuted with $1.2 million. Directed by Kim Hye-young and based on the novel by Ichijo Misaki, the film stars Choo Young-woo and Shin Si-ah in a bittersweet high-school romance centered on a girl with anterograde amnesia whose memories reset each morning. The film has earned $2.5 million in its first five days.

Japanese...

James Cameron’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” remained the dominant force at the China box office over the Dec. 26–28 frame, adding RMB166.4 million ($23.4 million) to lift its local cumulative total to RMB700 million ($98.6 million), according to Artisan Gateway.

Disney’s “Zootopia 2” held steady in second place, grossing $15.2 million in its fifth weekend. The animated sequel has now amassed $558.3 million in China, cementing its position as one of the market’s highest-grossing releases of the year.

Maoyan Movie’s new release “The Fire Raven” opened in third place with $2.8 million. Directed and written by Sam Quah, the crime thriller centers on a cold case involving the murder of a student in Duma City, with a witness and a police officer drawn into a wider web of corruption and retribution. The film stars Peng Yuchang, Alan Aruna and Chang Ning.

Romantic drama “Love Is Hard,” from Ncm Television, was at No.

M. Night Shyamalan made his directorial debut in 1992 with the semi-autobiographical "Playing with Anger," a film that — despite the director's eventual fame and success — remains obscure. He made it by borrowing money from his family and his friends, so it was a very personal affair. Shyamalan asked his parents to serve as associate producers on his next film, "Wide Awake," which ended up getting a sweet distribution deal from Miramax Films. In 1999, Shyamalan wrote and directed "The Sixth Sense," a $40 million film that earned an unexpected $672 million at the box office. It was also animated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

And that was...

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Gary Oldman had decades worth of moviemaking under his belt, with dozens of memorable roles during that stretch. Many love his Jim Gordon in Christopher Nolan's beloved "The Dark Knight" trilogy to his Oscar-winning performance as Winston Churchill in "Darkest Hour," but for a great many viewers, his role as the villainous Zorg from 1997's sci-fi classic "The Fifth Element" stands out more than just about anything else he's ever done.

Directed by Luc Besson and featuring Bruce Willis in the lead role as Korben Dallas, the movie takes place in the far future of 2257. It centers on a...

It has always been easy to trivialize Brigitte Bardot. In 1956, starring in the movie that made her a global sensation, “And God Created Woman,” what she did was not widely regarded as accomplished screen acting — or, in a certain way, as acting at all. The movie treated her as a ripe object of erotic fixation, and that’s just what she was called upon to play. She is introduced with shots of her bare feet arched just so, her body lying naked, face down on the ground. “Sex kitten.” “Baby doll.” “Teenage temptress.” At the time, she was branded all those things. Was the movie a sober French drama or soft-core porn? It was marketed as something in between.

Yet there was more at stake. And part of it is that Bardot, who died Sunday at 91, made no less a figure than Marilyn Monroe seem a sex symbol from an entirely different era.

The movie business grew up in the pages of Variety.

There is no more comprehensive chronicle of film history than Variety – hands down, no contest, case closed. This gallery backs up that bold statement by offering an array of amazing movie and movie-related advertisements drawn from Variety’s 120 years of covering entertainment and Hollywood.

Truly, the pages presented here only scratch the surface of the jewels and historical artifacts in our voluminous archives. This is definitely not an exhaustively researched selection. These are but some of the fantastic finds that we came across while working this year on the 120th anniversary issue, published Dec. 10 in print and online.

Some of these ads are for long-forgotten obscure titles, some are for classics like “King Kong,” “Casablanca,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “Dr. Strangelove,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” “Chinatown,” “Star Wars,” “Platoon,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “Rushmore,...

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Some might consider it one of the worst Marvel movies to date, but "Thor: The Dark World" is not without its moments, particularly one added at the last minute that contributed to the growing cohesion in the franchise that was being built like a Russian nesting doll. One scene in the hammer-wielding hero's second movie saw him being taunted by Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who, in an attempt to push his adopted brother's buttons, briefly transformed into Captain America (played by Chris Evans), fully star-spangled (albeit in one of Cap's worst costumes), before switching back. According to "The Story of Marvel Studios...

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There is still some debate among Trekkies as to which of the "Star Trek" feature films is the best. Common wisdom dictates that Nicholas Meyer's 1982 movie "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is the best, and some of the films that followed are essentially "Wrath of Khan" retreads. Other Trekkies, however, might prefer Robert Wise's ambitious "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" from 1979. That film is about a massive, massive cloud-like space entity — an ineffably powerful machine intelligence — that threatens to swallow Earth if its mysteries aren't solved in time. "The Motion Picture" is certainly the kind of...

Timothée Chalamet is officially the king of the Christmas box office.

It’s the third consecutive holiday season where the A-list star has dominated at the box office, a reign that began with 2023’s family-friendly musical “Wonka” and continued with 2024’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” This year’s ping pong adventure, “Marty Supreme,” extended the trend, serving up a stellar $27 million over the four-day frame. And Chalamet’s domination around the merriest of holidays should endure with 2026’s “Dune: Part III,” set for Dec. 18.

“Seemingly every year, Timothée has a major hit during the important holiday moviegoing corridor,” notes Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, Paul Dergarabedian. “No matter the genre, whether it’s a musical, biopic, sci-fi or comedy, his choice in the material and collaborators has made him not only a bona fide movie star, but a box-office draw.”

“Marty Supreme” confirms Chalamet’s status as...

Tony Scott's "Top Gun" was a huge commercial hit in 1986 and has maintained a glowing legacy ever since. More than three decades later, Joseph Kosinski gave us "Top Gun: Maverick," the critically acclaimed sequel that understands the inner workings of a thrill-inducing blockbuster. Kosinski leans hard into Tom Cruise's commitment to showmanship, and Maverick is still as gutsy and unpredictable as in Scott's original — which is precisely the source of conflict in the blockbuster sequel. Part of the film's appeal lies in the specialized planes that the characters (mostly Maverick) fly, where every design detail and prop plays a seminal role in selling us the fantasy of "the fastest man alive.

One of Laura Dern's more high-profile roles was playing Dr. Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's 1993 adventure film "Jurassic Park." Dr. Sattler was a paleobotanist who had been invited by the Burl Ives-like John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) to visit his soon-to-open zoo on a remote island off the coast of Costa Rica. Hammond had, thanks to some genetic tinkering, found a way to clone and resurrect long-extinct dinosaurs, and hoped to display them in a Disneyland-like Jurassic Park. Sattler was there to give her approval on the endeavor, but, to Hammond's dismay, rejected the idea. It seemed that a Jurassic Park is inviting chaos.

And, of course, when the...

There's an obvious reason techno-thriller movies continually resonate within an ever-evolving society: they directly speak to that very notion of change. The type of sci-fi and cyberpunk movies that become enduring objects, however, further associate that change with an internal endeavor toward growth and self-actualization — you may notice how many films on this list feature bodily transformation, or otherwise act as allegories for the transition of identity.

These movies typically literalize these ideas through plot mechanics that manifest in ambitious, heady story components and impressive makeup effects work. You can be certain that all the movies on this list endure from multiple perspectives: that of tangible filmmaking and artistic craft,...

"The Big Lebowski" is a Coen Brothers classic that's full of amazing quotable moments and centers on one of the most lovable and coolest characters in cinema history: Jeff Bridges as The Dude. It's easy to watch, absolutely hilarious, and has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, the opposite can be said for its bizarre sequel, "The Jesus Rolls," which came out more than 20 years after "The Big Lebowski" and absolutely tanked with audiences and critics alike.

"The Jesus Rolls" was a strange follow-up because it's also a remake of the 1974 French film "Going Places," and it only exists because writer, director, and star John Turturro begged the Coens to...

Burt Reynolds had many classic roles, from Bo "The Bandit" Darville in "Smokey and the Bandit" to Lewis Medlock in "Deliverance." Prior to both of those examples, however, the actor had a chance to take on what would have surely been the most well-known role of his career when he was offered the chance to lead the James Bond franchise. Why would he turn it down? Well, it was for the simple reason he felt the character had to be played by a Brit. Still, during multiple interviews in the years since, Reynolds said he felt "stupid" for saying "no" to Bond.

For as many great roles as he had,...

Meta-storytelling and meta-humor are huge these days, drawing from a long tradition of horror movies that got a little tongue-in-cheek and crystallizing into its current form on shows like "Community" and "Rick and Morty." Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, however, audiences weren't super clued-in to those kinds of meta jokes, which makes a great little moment on an episode of "Happy Days" that much better. In the episode of "Happy Days" that introduced Robin Williams as the alien Mork from the planet Ork, Ron Howard's character Richie has Mork watch some TV, and he lands on "The Andy Griffith Show." Delighted, Mork tells his new friend, "I like that boy Opie!

During a recent episode of the “Team Deakins” podcast, Kate Winslet discussed her debut in Peter Jackson’s 1994 drama-thriller “Heavenly Creatures,” which follows the Oscar winner and Melanie Lynskey as two teens who share a dangerously obsessive friendship. When asked how much of herself she brought to the role of Juliet, Winslet shared that her “first intimate experiences” as a teenager were “with girls,” which helped her understand the “really intense connection” at the heart of the film.

“I’ll share something I’ve never shared before. Some of my first intimate experiences as a young teen were actually with girls,” Winslet said. “I’d kissed a few girls, and I’d kissed a few boys, but I wasn’t particularly evolved in either direction.”

She added, “At that stage in my life, I certainly was curious, and I think there was something about the really intense connection that those...

The spin-off game can be a tricky one, and there's no telling which property has the potential (or is handled well enough) to become a franchise. For instance, when Roland Emmerich's 1994 sci-fi film "Stargate" dropped in 1994, few could have guessed that it would eventually become a small screen spin-off machine big enough to rival the likes of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and the One Chicago franchise.  

Yet, that's exactly how things turned out for the movie. From "Stargate" rose "Stargate Sg-1," the remixed and recast TV adaptation, which explored further corners of the "Stargate" universe in ways that proved enticing enough to carry the show for an impressive 10 seasons.

In May of 2024, Deadline reported that, after just two years and seasons on "Grey's Anatomy," actress Midori Francis would hang up her stethoscope as Dr. Mika Yasuda. Francis, who was previously known for projects like "Dash & Lily," signed with agency WME to try and book more varied roles and split "amicably" from the long-running medical series, which was created by Shonda Rhimes but has been helmed by showrunner Meg Marinis since the show's landmark 20th season. 

Who was Francis's Mika, and how did she leave the series? Mika arrives in season 19 as part of a group of new interns, and thanks to a mountain of student debt, she works...

Avatar: Fire And Ash dropped a mere 28% in its second weekend and added an estimated $64m to reach $217.7m through Disney, leading an energised session that saw A24’s Marty Supreme in third place soar to $28.3m after expanding wide for one of the biggest Christmas Days of all time for an R-rated film.

Marty Supreme starringTimothée Chalamet grossed$9.5m on December 25,$17.5m over the three-day session and$27.1m over four days, following last weekend’s launch on2,668 screens.

Disney’s Zootopia 2 ranked second on $20m for a $321.4m running total after five weekends, and Lionsgate’s thriller The Housemaid...

Fans of "The Summer I Turned Pretty" — the Amazon Prime series helmed by Jenny Han, who also wrote the novels — are waiting with bated breath to catch up with Isabel "Belly" Conklin (Lola Tung), Conrad Fisher (Christopher Briney), and the rest of the beach house gang in the forthcoming movie. So why is the three-season series getting a movie in the first place instead of a fourth season?

In November 2025, Lexy Perez spoke to Han for The Hollywood Reporter about the movie and asked why Han, who's also writing and directing the film, wants to expand Belly and Conrad's happy ending. "I just see the movie as an opportunity to...

Apple TV's "Foundation" is a bold, audacious adaptation that would've been considered unthinkable just a few years ago, much like Denis Villeneuve's film versions of "Dune" and Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" movie trilogy were once upon a time. Isaac Asimov's original books are gargantuan, spanning millennia and dozens of planets (with even more characters). Indeed, their themes and ideas are so complex that it would've once seemed like a fool's errant to try to simplify the story to work as a film or capture it on a TV budget.

The "Foundation" series, however, excels at doing just that. It successfully brings Asimov's universe to...

Emmanuel Macron leads tributes to​ actor who became an international sex symbol ​and later embraced animal rights​ and far-right politics

Brigitte Bardot: a life in pictures

Peter Bradshaw on Brigitte Bardot – a zeitgeist-force and France’s most sensational export

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who became an international sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry and embracing the cause of animal rights activism and far-right politics, has died aged 91.

Paying tribute to Bardot on Sunday, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, wrote on social media that France was mourning “a legend of the century”.

M. Night Shyamalan's divisive horror-thriller, "Old," tackles intriguing themes. The 2021 film might be a far cry from most M. Night bangers, but it dares to do something different while playing around with genre conventions. It's a bizarre, gimmicky exploration of the existential fear of aging, but this very lack of subtlety can also be a lot of fun. After all, the premise itself is inspired by Pierre Oscar Lévy's "Sandcastle," a gripping graphic novel about the far-reaching consequences of rapid aging, including intergenerational trauma. In terms of thematic depth, "Sandcastle" is the superior text here, as it is populated by compelling characters torn apart by an inexplicable phenomenon they are ill-equipped to navigate.

Brigitte Bardot, the French actress who rivaled Marilyn Monroe as a cinematic goddess for more than a decade, died on Sunday, December 28 at the age of 91. The actress, who became one of the definitive sex symbols of the 1950s with “And God Created Woman” (1956) and who later worked with several Nouvelle Vague directors including Jean-Luc Godard in “Contempt,” had been retired from films for nearly a half century. News of Bardot’s death was first reported by The Associated Press via a spokesperson for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.

Born in Paris on September 28, 1934 to well-off parents, Bardot pursued interests in dancing and music as a child. She began her career as a young model, appearing on the cover of Elle magazine at just 15 years old. And it was not long before movie stardom came calling for her.

At 18 years old, she made her film debut in Willy Rozier’s “Manina,...

DC's "Green Lantern" comics followed an intergalactic police corps; the Green Lanterns members from various alien races, chosen to safeguard the universe sector-by-sector with rings that can create anything out of green energy. That means "Green Lantern" comics often walk the line between superhero comics and space opera.

A new issue "Green Lantern Corps" #10 leans on the greatest space franchise of them all: "Star Trek." One of the issue's subplots follows some rookie Green Lanterns in training under the pig-faced drill sergeant, Kilowog. Said rookies — Teen Lantern Keli Quintela, the android Aya, squirrel-like Narf, and Vexar'u — have to run an obstacle course without their rings. Their final test, the Aleta Zahir,...

The great Bruce Dern will always be a legend of the Western genre simply for being the man who killed John Wayne. Dern's cattle rustler Asa Watts shot Wayne's rancher Will Andersen in an infamous scene from 1972's "The Cowboys," prompting Wayne to issue a warning to his co-star ahead of filming. But even before this unforgettable moment, Dern had earned his Western stripes in a series of oaters across the big and small screen. That includes several appearances on "Gunsmoke," which saw the actor portray a number of different characters. All of them were villains or otherwise nefarious, with Dern portraying everything from murderous fathers to gunslingers and even the son of a wild,...

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” has surpassed $760 million globally after two weekends of release.

Over the busy Christmas stretch, James Cameron’s sci-fi epic collected $181.2 million from 51 overseas markets and $245.2 million globally. Those ticket sales mark a minimal 25% decline from its international opening weekend. So far, the Disney and 20th Century film has grossed $217 million in North America and $542 million at the international box office. Outside of the United States and Canada, top markets are China with $99.6 million, France with $54.4 million, Germany with $43.1 million and Korea with $32.1 million.

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” is already the sixth-highest grossing Hollywood release of the year, and it’ll continue to climb above hits like “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” ($714 million), “Jurassic World: Rebirth ($869 million) and “A Minecraft Movie” ($958 million) in the coming weekends. Soon, “Avatar 3” should become 2025’s third blockbuster to surpass the $1 billion mark, following two other Disney behemoths, May’s “Lilo & Stitch...

"The Simpsons," like any sitcom, tends to revert to the status quo by the end of every episode. Even when something outlandish happens, like Principal Skinner revealing he's not actually the real Seymour Skinner in one of the series' most infamous episodes, the residents of Springfield are more than happy to send things back to the way they were. But with death, there is no going back. 

It's hard to mine death for comedy, but "The Simpsons" manages to find a way. Barring that, the show treats the deceased with a rare sense of reverence. "The Simpsons" may be a ridiculous animated sitcom, but even it has a sentimental streak every now and then.

James Cameron’s sci-fi threequel “Avatar: Fire and Ash” remained comfortably atop the domestic box office over the Christmas stretch. Meanwhile a trio of new holiday releases, A24’s sports dramedy “Marty Supreme,” the Focus Features musical tear-jerker “Song Sung Blue” and Sony’s action comedy “Anaconda,” helped keep multiplexes bustling… but they weren’t enough to fend off the Disney animated sequel “Zootopia 2,” which returned to No. 2 in its fifth weekend of release.

“Avatar 3” added a solid $64 million over the traditional weekend and $88 million since the Christmas holiday on Thursday. The three-day figure is a scant 28% decline from its $89 million domestic debut, a stronger hold than its predecessor, 2022’s “The Way of Water,” which dropped by 52% after a larger $134 million debut. So far, “Avatar: Fire and Ash” has generated $217.7 million in North America and $760 million worldwide after two weekends of release. Based on past precedent, “Avatar: Fire and Ash...

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The 1990s "X-Men" cartoon made an effort to feature the classic X-Men members who weren't in the main cast as guest stars. That makes one absence all the more notable: Katherine "Kitty" Pryde, aka Sprite/Ariel/Shadowcat, was nowhere to be seen.

Introduced by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne during "The Dark Phoenix Saga" (specifically 1980's "X-Men" #129), Kitty has the power to "phase," or become intangible and move through solid matter. She was only 14, a teen plucked from the Chicago suburbs when her mutant powers emerged. She became the little sister of the X-Men, especially for Storm and Wolverine,...

Model turned actor never lost the poise from her dancing days – but she also made gingham and leopard print her own

French screen legend dies aged 91

Brigitte Bardot: a life in pictures

Obituary: star who shot to fame in the 1950s

And God Created Woman, the title of the 1956 film that made Brigitte Bardot a global star, is the phrase that captures the magic of her. Bardot had an allure that was dazzling in its glamour, yet so natural that to gaze on it felt like a gift from the heavens.

In style, as in life, timing is everything – and Bardot became the poster girl for that sweet spot...

Brigitte Bardot, an international pop culture icon and legend of film, has died at the age of 91. The Associated Press confirmed the news via the late icon's colleague Bruno Jacquelin, of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. Bardot is survived is by her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, born in 1960 from her second marriage, and her (fourth) husband Bernard d'Ormale whom she married in 1992.

Bardot was perhaps best known for her acting work in the 1950s and 1960s, which made her an international sex symbol of the era. But between her acting and singing work through her mid-1970s retirement, there are so many incredible pieces of art that she made her mark in.

Latest suit claims the billionaire film-maker subjected actor Mario Rodriguez to repeated unwanted sexual advances

Tyler Perry has been hit with a $77m sexual assault lawsuit by a man claiming the US entertainment mogul used his Hollywood power to make sexual advances after he dangled a part in the 2016 comedy Boo! A Madea Halloween.

The lawsuit claims Perry subjected Mario Rodriguez to repeated unwanted sexual advances. That allegedly included sexual battery and assault at Perry’s Los Angeles home, according to the lawsuit, which claims film studio Lionsgate ignored the misconduct.

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When James Gunn's superhero caper film "Guardians of the Galaxy" was released in 2014, it was considered something of a risk. It was part of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, and while that series had already produced numerous giganto blockbusters, there was no reason to believe that "Guardians" would keep the ball rolling. Most notably, the characters were too obscure. Surprisingly, Gunn's impish humor seduced audiences, and "Guardians" proved to be as big a hit as many Marvel films. It became so popular, movie fans could now recognize obscure characters like Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper) and Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista) on sight.

William Shatner's breakthrough didn't come until he made his debut as Captain James T. Kirk on "Star Trek: The Original Series" in 1966. But the actor had actually amassed a considerable filmography prior to that and made appearances on numerous TV shows, including his famous 1963 "Twilight Zone" episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (which came with a side of intense sleep deprivation). Before that, though, the actor showed up in a two-part arc on a short-lived and overlooked Western series titled "Outlaws." There, he played a man on the run from the law, a common archetype that Shatner revisited in other TV Westerns of the 1960s.

If the 1970s were when the Western truly died,...

The French actor and singer Brigitte Bardot became an international sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry and embracing the cause of animal rights activism. Coming to prominence in 1956 in her then husband's film And God Created Woman, she turned away from public life 20 years later, having faced constant harassment from the press and paparazzi. Bardot dedicated the rest of her life to the fight for animal welfare

Brigitte Bardot, French screen legend, dies aged 91

Brigitte Bardot obituary...

We were spoiled with an embarrassment of riches in 2025, which was an absolutely incredible year for movies, and 2026 is shaping up to look like another banger frame. Here at /Film, it's our job to have our fingers on the pulse of what's new and exciting, so we wanted to highlight some of the best upcoming releases that might not be on your radar. These are films that are a little off the beaten path or have yet to pierce through all the noise being made by the tentpole release schedule. Indeed, these movies will be the interesting "cool" picks that you can convince all of your friends to go see in theaters,...

I was born 10 years after "Kramer vs. Kramer" came out. I was 12 when my parents got divorced in the early aughts, after which I lived with my mother and spent every other weekend at my dad's. I was in my mid-20s when I first watched Robert Benton's domestic drama that won five Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director) in 1980 — well over three decades after its release. I was (and still am) a European, barely having anything in common with the Kramers, yet the movie spoke to me because you can't put an expiration date or age restriction on divorce, dysfunctional families, and absent parents. Separation is a...

When you think of HBO, you probably think of any one of its legendarily great TV shows; this is the premium network, after all, that used to run with the tagline "It's not TV, it's HBO." Series like "The Sopranos," "Sex and the City," "Deadwood," "The Wire," and more modern entries like "Succession," "Game of Thrones," and "The White Lotus" have catapulted the network to a revered status, winning Emmys right and left. But what about the HBO shows that time has simply forgotten?

Everything on the following list is, to be clear, worth watching for one reason or another, and even though HBO's volume of output isn't as relentless as,...

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2016 was not Ben Affleck's year: He starred in three films, and none were successes. His performance as Batman in "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" was praised but the movie itself was not, marking the beginning of the end for the DC Extended Universe. Affleck's original action thriller, "The Accountant," similarly got middling reviews, but it was at least popular enough to get a sequel nine years later.

This brings us to Affleck's passion project, "Live by Night." Set in 1926 shortly after Prohibition, the gangster epic follows Boston bank robber Joe Coughlin as he builds a rum-running empire in...

Sam Raimi's 2002 film "Spider-Man" represents an inflection point in superhero cinema. There were plenty of hit superhero movies prior to "Spider-Man," of course — notably "Superman" (1978), "Batman" (1989), and "X-Men" (2000) — but "Spider-Man" was the first to make such extensive use of modern CGI to finally, for the first time, visually realize a well-known superhero character more or less the same way they looked on the comic book page. Previously, superhero characters were largely eschewed by Hollywood, either because they were "kid stuff" with small built-in audiences, or because they would be too expensive to make. "Spider-Man" was the first "casual" superhero blockbuster, to coin a term. Its special effects were...

Into every generation, a young woman with a double life as a pop star is born. If you came of age in the 2000s, that prophesied heroine was Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus). But, if you were a child of the 1980s, that folkloric figure was Jerrica Benton, who transformed herself onstage into the bodacious (to use the vernacular of the era) pink-haired lead vocalist Jem of Jem and the Holograms.

Developed by Hasbro, Sunbow Productions, and Marvel Productions, the animated "Jem and the Holograms" series was quick to find a fanbase, much like the companies' "G.I. Joe" and "Transformers" properties around the same time. (It's true: "G.I. Joe" is technically a Marvel brand.

Brigitte Bardot, the French cinema icon of films including And God Created Woman, Contempt and The Truth, has died at the age of 91.

Bardot’s death was announced via a statement from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, the animal welfare organisation she founded in 1986.

“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” read the statement.

The statement did not provide details about where Bardot died or a cause of death.

Screenis running this regularly updated page with the latest film festival and market dates from across the world.

To submit details of or alter your festival dates, pleasecontact us herewith the name, dates, country and website for the event.

January

Palm Springs International Film Festival, US - January 2-12

Saint Augustine Film Festival, US - January 5-11

Dances With Films: New York, US - January 15-18

Belmont World Film’s Family Festival, US - January 17-19, 24-25

Sundance Film Festival, US - January 22-February 1

Fipadoc International Documentary Film Festival, France - January 23-31

Goteborg Film Festival, Sweden - January 23-February 1

International Film Festival Rotterdam,...

Screenis listing the 2026 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.

January

Thursday, January 1

No Time For Goodbye(Viavix),Song Sung Blue(Universal)

Friday, January 2

Happy Feet(Park Circus),Peter Hujar’s Day(Picturehouse),Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troisgros(BFI)

Thursday, January 8

The Raja Saab(Prathyangira)

Friday, January 9

Hamnet(Universal),Labyrinth(Park Circus),Soulm8te(Universal),Becoming Victoria Wood(Dartmouth),Giant(True Brit)

Wednesday, January 14

La Traviata - Roh, London 2026(Trafalgar)

Friday, January 16

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple(Sony), Rental Family...