News

Sky has commissioned a new documentary series that will re-examine one of the greatest hoaxes of the 1990s: the infamous “Alien Autopsy” footage. Titled Alien Autopsy (w/t), the Sky Original series will be directed by John Dower, the filmmaker behind the acclaimed documentary My Scientology Movie and the BAFTA-winning series Lockerbie. The project comes from […]

Sky Orders Docuseries on Infamous ‘Alien Autopsy’ Film from ‘Lockerbie’ Director...

Max subscribers have a number of exciting movie and TV premieres to look forward to this month.

The biggest and most noteworthy is “A Minecraft Movie,” which is set to make its streaming premiere on Max on an undetermined date in June, after already grossing nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Some smaller dramas, like director Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” and the Daisy Ridley action vehicle “Cleaner,” are arriving on the platform in June as well.

Max will also be the streaming home for “The Gilded Age” Season 3 when it makes its premiere on Sunday, June 22.

Below, you can find the full list of what’s new on Max in June 2025.

June 1

“A Hologram for the King” (2016)

“A Nightmare on Elm Street” (2010)

“A Perfect Getaway” (2009)

“Backtrack” (2016)

“Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons” (2022)

“Black Patch” (1957)

“Blues in the Night” (1941)

“Casino” (1995)

“Fight Club” (1999)

“Gentleman Jim” (1942)

“Hellboy” (2004)

“I Am Not Your Negro...

Morgan Spector, Carrie Coon, and Harry Richardson in ‘The Gilded Age’ season 3 (Photograph by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO Max)

Max’s June 2025 lineup includes the season three premiere of The Gilded Age, the three-part true crime documentary series The Mortician, and the premiere of My Mom Jayne, Mariska Hargitay’s very personal documentary film on her mother, classic movie star Jayne Mansfield. The hot summer month delivers the streaming premieres of A Minecraft Movie (date to be determined) and The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.

Max’s June schedule also includes Parthenope, a romantic drama from writer-director Paolo Sorrentino, and director Martin Campbell’s Cleaner starring Daisy Ridley, Taz Skylar, and Clive Owen.

Max June 2025 Lineup

June 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Perfect Getaway (2009)

Backtrack (2016)

Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons (2022)

Black Patch (1957)

Blues in the Night (1941)

Casino (1995)

Fight Club...

U.K. national treasure Louis Theroux is to be awarded the annual Honorary Fellowship from the National Film and Television School (Nfts).

The British broadcaster has long been the face of documentary-making in the U.K. and overseas with his Weird Weekends, When Louis Met…, My Scientology Movie and Surviving America’s Most Hated Family shows.

Now, the prestigious London film school will recognize Theroux’s contribution to and impact on the medium as the Nfts Board of Governors names him the recipient of 2025’s fellowship prize.

“I’m massively grateful to be offered this Honorary Fellowship by the National Film and Television School,” said Theroux. “I came into the industry more than 30 years ago, feeling like a trespasser, an imposter, in a role meant for someone else, worrying that I would be found out, hoping I could keep going for a few more months, since I was enjoying it so much.

Louis Theroux is aware it sounds a little like he’s joking, but he’s quite serious.

“I find the podcast studio, in certain respects, a more intimidating location than being in a prison or a maximum security mental hospital,” he tells The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “I know that sounds maybe like a joke, but I’m someone who has always sought comfort and refuge by being on location and surrendering to the flow of actuality. In the podcast space, you absolutely have to be prepared.”

The British documentarian is beloved in the U.K. and beyond for travelling across the world — often the U.S. — and conducting, in a perfectly Theroux-esque manner, investigative interviews with people on the fringes of society. From cults and religious fanatics to swingers and sex offenders, there isn’t a lot of ground the BBC broadcaster hasn’t covered.

Some may recognize him...

Now a week into the new year, Max is, like many of us, cleaning house. The streamer is ushering in a new month of library additions and new originals, and, like usual, we have to give to get.

While the streamer has lost a few titles already this month, including 2018’s “The Nun,” nearly all of Max’s departures will make their exit during the final week of the month, including “Birdman,” “Barbarian,” and more!

Before January comes to an end, check out The Streamable’s top picks of what to watch before they’re gone, and see the full list of what’s leaving Max throughout the rest of the month!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Max in January 2024? “Barbarian” | Wednesday, Jan. 24

Georgina Campbell leads the horror-thriller as Tess, a young woman who books a rental home only to...

Exclusive: Anonymous Content, Red Bull Studios and Rise Films have partnered to produce new documentary feature The Balloonists following Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard and English balloonist Brian Jones. BAFTA and Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker John Dower has come aboard to direct the project and Anonymous Content’s AC Independent will oversee sales.

The Balloonists follows the unlikely duo of Swiss explorer Piccard and British flying instructor Jones who, in 1999, took on the world’s leading aeronauts and ultra-rich adventurers in a race to become the first people to fly nonstop around the world in a hot air balloon. Many in the aviation community believed this to be an impossible feat, after years of failed attempts by balloonists from across the globe. More than most racing sports, ballooning is subject to the capricious whims of nature. An aeronaut must learn to accept the unexpected and respect their position in the hierarchy of the natural world,...

August is heating up on Max, with “90 Day: The Last Resort” premiering on the streamer Aug. 15 (one day after it airs on TLC).

Five fan-favorite couples from “90 Day Fiance” have reached their breaking points. In a final attempt to salvage their relationships, each couple will participate in a couples retreat to determine whether or not they can heal old wounds. Alongside a team of professionals, they’ll actively navigate issues with trust, sex, jealousy, anger and intimacy. Explosive group therapies, intense couples sessions, past life regressions, unique on-and-off-resort activities and so much more ensue. At the end of the retreat, each couple must decide if they will stay together or move on separately.

Fans of dating and relationship shows may also be interested in “Kim vs Kayne: The Divorce” on August 7, which chronicles the split between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. There’s also Season 18 of “Sister Wives,...

Summer isn’t over yet but HBO and its streaming arm Max are already moving on to fall. With its list of new releases for August 2023, Max is focusing on football! The American kind, mind you, not the actually footy kind.

August 2023 sees the release of two major football documentaries on HBO and Max. The first is the premiere of Hard Knocks on Aug. 10. The new season of long-running NFL training camp docuseries will center on the New York Jets, new employers of legendary quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Aug. 23, Max will air the aptly named Bs High. The doc tells the stranger-than-fiction story of high school football team Bishop Sycamore, which pulled off one of the more notable sports scams you’re likely to ever hear about.

Not of the football variety but in keeping with the North American sports theme will be season 2 of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on Aug.

DeVaughn Nixon, Quincy Isaiah, and Delante Desouza in ‘Winning Time’ season 2 (Photograph by Warrick Page/HBO)

Hard Knock‘s new season focusing on the New York Jets and the second season of the original drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty join Max’s August 2023 lineup, along with Tracy Morgan’s latest comedy special. August’s schedule also includes the season finales of And Just Like That… and Warrior.

Rap Sh!t season two premieres on August 10th, and the new half-hour young adult animated series Adventure Time: Fionna & Cake arrives on August 31st.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In August 2023:

August 1

A Hologram for the King (2016)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child...

August is one of the weird months on the calendar. It feels like it should be early fall; September is Right there, after all. And yet August is one of the hottest months of the year for many in the United States, one last gasp of summer before autumn and its traditional TV schedule of new releases settle in.

This year’s fall schedule will look markedly different thanks to strikes by both the leading actors’ union and the leading writers’ guild in Hollywood, but August will still have some fantastic new hits coming to streaming. Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform Max is debuting new titles in just about every imaginable category, so here are the five we’re most excited for at The Streamable!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com

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‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ Season 2 Premiere | Aug.

Former NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy has launched a new shingle with his cousin, Berlin-based advertising exec Stefan Telegdy, and they are pitching their first TV project, a 10-episode series about the Falklands/Malvinas War of 1982.

The Telegdys’ The Whole Spiel production company has partnered with Lone Wolf Pictures and Infinity Hill to produce “The Islands,” which tells the story of that 1982 war, from the perspective of the soldiers and civilians on both sides of the 74-day conflict.

Argentine writer Sebastian Rotstein is writing the screenplay for the show, which will employ writers and directors from both the U.K. and Argentina to tell the full story.

Lone Wolf Prods. has secured rights to several published works about the war to use as source material, and is also working with military and civilian consultants including war correspondent Sir Max Hastings and Sir Simon Jenkins (“The Battle for the Falklands”); Cdr Sharkey Ward Dsc,...

Netflix’s three-part documentary on Sophie Toscan Du Plantier, the French film and TV producer who was killed while at her isolated holiday cottage in West Cork, Ireland, in 1996, is to premiere on June 30.

Sophie: A Murder In West Cork is produced by Lightbox and will bring together contributions from her family, including her son Pierre-Louis Baudey, with that of Ian Bailey, the man at the center of the investigation.

My Scientology Movie director John Dower is attached to helm the project, while the executive producers are Simon Chinn, Jonathan Chinn, and Suzanne Lavery. Sarah Lambert produces.

Lavery and Chinn said: “Sophie was much more than a victim of a murder. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a filmmaker and a writer. Whatever actually happened on that cold December night in 1996, the story is one of a collision of worlds, cultures and characters and it was that which drew us to it.

Exclusive: Here’s a hot one: ITV is turning Len Deighton’s spy novel The Ipcress File, which inspired the 1965 Michael Caine film of the same name, into a television series — and the UK broadcaster has assembled a stellar on- and off-screen team to make the drama a reality.

The adaptation will be penned by BAFTA-winning Trainspotting writer John Hodge, while the cast will be led by Gangs Of London and Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole, alongside Bohemian Rhapsody actress Lucy Boynton, and The Night Manager’s Tom Hollander. The Crown and Rush producer Andrew Eaton will serve as an executive producer, while the six-part Berlin-set series will be helmed by McMafia and Black Mirror director James Watkins.

The Ipcress File is the first major project housed at Will Clarke and Andy Mayson’s Altitude Television, a production arm of the British film and TV company Altitude Media Group,...

In today’s Global Bulletin, Atresmedia commissions a Spanish version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Steve McQueen’s “Lovers Rock” trailer drops, Lightbox will produced a three-part docu-series about Sophie Toscan du Plantier for Netflix, Hardcash announces a new coronavirus doc for ITV, and the Seville and Zagreb festivals announce their 2020 winners.

Format

¡Hola Hola Hola! Media company World of Wonder is teaming with Spanish broadcaster Atresmedia and production company Buendía Estudios on “Drag Race Spain,” a new Spanish version of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” for Atresmedia’s SVOD platform Atresplayer Premium. The Spanish update adds to the list of previous format deals in Thailand, Chile, Canada, Netherlands, and “RuPaul’s Drag Race U.K.,” recently renewed for a second and third season.

Passion Distribution brokered the deal with Atresmedia and will distribute internationally, including an exclusive deal with Wow Presents Plus in the U.S., U.K and internationally, which will...

Altitude and Lightbox, the production outfit run by Oscar and Emmy-winning filmmakers Simon and Jonathan Chinn, are combining for what they claim will be the first theatrical documentary on Princess Diana.

Directed by Ed Perkins (Tell Me Who I Am), Diana will draw on thousands of hours news reports, previously unseen footage, and photographs to tell the story of the princess, who died in Paris in 1997.

It will bow in summer 2022, marking the 25th anniversary of Princess Diana’s demise in a car accident following her split from Prince Charles, the heir to the throne. HBO and Sky Documentaries have taken the TV rights in the U.S. and UK respectively.

Altitude, the UK distributor behind features including Amy and Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie, is handling globals sales and is releasing the film theatrically in the UK and Ireland.

It has pre-sold to Benelux (Piece of Magic), Germany...

With Netflix currently going through a rare drought in terms of adding new content, competitors like Hulu and Disney Plus are continuing to put out fresh material to keep us busy. The former, in particular, are adding some great movies and series for July 13th to 19th, including The Weekend, Into the Dark and documentary Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love, on top of recently released critical favorites like Palm Springs.

From today, Hulu users can catch up on My Scientology Movie, the Louis Theroux-produced look at the controversial organization, as well as the Canadian drama The Rest of Us, Aisling Chin-Yee’s well-regarded directorial debut from 2019. On Wednesday the 15th, meanwhile, we’re getting The Weekend, wherein a comedian finds herself caught between her ex, his new girlfriend and another guest, leading to some predictably complicated farce.

Also coming this Wednesday is the first season of Diary of a Prosecutor,...

Exclusive: Jeremy Thomas’s Brit sales and production firm HanWay is rebranding catalog label HanWay Select to The Collections as part of a drive to highlight and propel its significant library of more than 350 movies.

HanWay has struck a deal with UK distributor Arrow Films to handle distribution and restorations in the UK of the Jeremy Thomas collection, with films including multi-Oscar winning epic The Last Emperor, John Malkovich-Debra Winger romance The Sheltering Sky and David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch. Arrow recently re-released HanWay’s David Bowie-starrer Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

HanWay is currently restoring around five titles a year with recent updates including David Cronenberg’s Crash, which screened at Venice. Upcoming is Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth.

We also understand the company is close to striking a deal with a well known filmmaker to bring around 20 movies into The Collections fold.

The catalog drive...

British documentary maker Louis Theroux's production company, Mindhouse Productions, has secured a first-look distribution deal with BBC Studios. 

The arrangement marks a return for Theroux (My Scientology Movie), who left the BBC's commercial arm just last year to set up the independent banner alongside his executive producer Arron Fellows and TV director Nancy Strang, with the aim of to tackling thought-provoking and complex subjects, some with Theroux attached onscreen.

At the time, Netflix and Amazon were being eyed as potential suitors for Theroux, who has a two decade-plus history on British screens, famously spending time with the ...

Altitude Media Group, the UK outfit run by Will Clarke that works across production, distribution and sales, has officially opened a natural history-focused factual wing that will make film and TV docs.

Former Channel 4 exec Paul Sowerbutts joined the company late last year to drive the move into non-fiction content, taking up the role of MD, Altitude Factual. Joining him is Jeremy Bradshaw as head of Natural History.

Last month, Altitude received a significant investment from Neon-backed 30West, which saw the U.S. outfit take a minatory stake in the Brit company.

The opening of the factual unit follows Altitude’s success with distributing doc content, including Asif Kapadia’s Amy and Diego Maradona, and Louis Theroux’s My Scientology Movie. The company also handles event cinema releases and has the upcoming one-night engagement of David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet on April 16 in conjunction with WWF and Silverback Film.

New arm to be led by Paul Sowerbutts.

The UK’s Altitude Media Group has launched a new division to produce natural history and documentary series and features, led by former Diverse Productions chief Paul Sowerbutts.

Altitude Factual will create long-running television series and feature-length documentaries focusing on the natural and human worlds with strong family appeal.

The London-based independent production, international sales and distribution company has previously been involved with award-winning documentaries including Amy, Whitney, Diego Maradona, My Scientology Movie and Liam Gallagher: As It Was.

Sowerbutts will lead the division as managing director. He was previously managing director of Channel 4 Rights,...

Exclusive: The BBC and HBO are co-producing a feature-length documentary on the unsolved mystery of plane hijacker D.B. Cooper, nearly 50 years after he vanished without a trace in 1971.

The Mystery Of D.B. Cooper is helmed by John Dower — an Emmy-nominated director who made Louis Theroux film My Scientology Movie — and the producer is Minnow Films, which has won BAFTAs for documentaries including 7/7: One Day in London and The Detectives.

The film seeks to unravel the mystery surrounding D.B. Cooper, who boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines plane in November 1971 and hijacked the flight while it was still on the tarmac. He claimed to have a bomb in his briefcase and demanded four parachutes and $200,000, which he exchanged for the 36 passengers on board.

Cooper ordered the flight to take off for Mexico City and somewhere on the journey, he managed to jump out of the back of the...

Exclusive: Louis Theroux, the cult British documentary maker behind the 2015 film My Scientology Movie, has parted ways with BBC Studios to set up his own production company.

Deadline can reveal that Theroux has established Mindhouse Productions alongside his executive producer Arron Fellows, ending a contractual relationship with the BBC that spans more than two decades.

Theroux and Fellows each own 40% of the newly incorporated company, while Theroux’s wife, TV director Nancy Strang, owns the remaining 20% and is also named as a director.

Theroux got his break in TV through Bowling for Columbine director Michael Moore on TV Nation and went solo for the first time with the BBC on Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends in 1998.

He has worked with the public broadcaster ever since, famously spending time with the likes of Jimmy Savile, the late British TV presenter accused of raping children, and getting under the skin of major U.

Theroux is setting up the new outfit with BBC Studios executive Arron Fellows.

Louis Theroux, the documentary filmmaker and long-time habitué of the BBC, is understood to be forming an independent company when his current deal with the UK broadcaster ends, sparking a bidding war between Amazon and Netflix.

Theroux is setting up the new outfit with BBC Studios executive Arron Fellows. The news has sparked a bidding war between the two big Us streamers, both of which are keen to lock Theroux’s new company down to a production deal.

Insiders told Screen that while Amazon has offered a...

British-American documentary maker Louis Theroux is the latest high-profile name to be added to the Edinburgh International TV Festival.

Theroux, who broke through on Michael Moore’s NBC/BBC series TV Nation and made My Scientology Movie, will discuss his career in non-fiction filmmaking at the TV fest, which runs August 21-23 in Scotland.

He will be interviewed by How To Look Good Naked presenter Dawn O’Porter in the session titled When Dawn Met Louis… in homage to Theroux’s long-running series of interviews on the BBC. Theroux will also discuss the work of Michael Moore, Nick Broomfield and Ruby Wax as well as newer faces including Stacey Dooley and Reggie Yates and a slew of YouTube doc stars. Theroux recently fronted BBC Two doc Surviving America’s Most Hated Family about the Westboro Baptist Church.

The bookings were made by Ian Lamarra, the festival’s head of talent...

iTunes has released its list of the best-selling independent, documentary, and foreign films of 2017, most of which are unsurprising. “Manchester by the Sea,” “Moonlight,” and “The Big Sick” were watched the most overall, whereas subtitle-inclined users were fans of “Kedi,” “Raw,” and “The Salesman.”

Most of the surprises come on the nonfiction front: “Unacknowledged: An Exposé of the World’s Greatest Secret” takes the top spot, followed by “Fittest on Earth: A Decade of Fitness.” All of them will be featured in a new room called Top Discoveries. Find the full list below.

Read More:‘The Big Sick’ Star Kumail Nanjiani’s New Reason to See ‘Last Jedi’ is a Sweet Story About Director Rian Johnson

Top-Selling Indies

“Manchester by the Sea” “Moonlight” “The Big Sick” “Lion” “Gifted” “Wind River” “Jackie” “The Lost City of Z” “Nocturnal Animals” “The Zookeeper’s Wife”

Top-Selling Documentaries in 2017

“Unacknowledged: An Exposé of the...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

One hundred seventy features have been submitted for consideration in the Documentary Feature category for the 90th Academy Awards. That’s 25 more than 2016. Assuming they all book their qualifying runs in New York and Los Angeles, the members of the documentary branch have just a few more weeks to see as many films as possible and file their votes for the shortlist of 15 to be announced in December. They’re each supposed to watch an assigned list of about 20 films, plus as many more as they can.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions: Best Documentary Feature

It’s possible for documentaries to also vie for Best Picture, although it is rare. Among this year’s most lauded features are “City of Ghosts,” “Faces Places,” “Jane,” “Kedi” and “One of Us.”

The submitted features, listed in alphabetical order, are:

“Abacus: Small Enough to Jail”

“Aida’s Secrets”

“Al Di Qua”

“All the Rage...

Altitude has come aboard to handle international sales on The Mystery Of Db Cooper, helmed by John Dower (My Scientology Movie, Live Forever, Thriller In Manila) and based on a true story. On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper, wearing a black suit and raincoat, carrying only a briefcase, walked up to the Northwest Orient desk at Portland airport and bought a $20 one-way ticket to Seattle. Once on the plane he hands a note to a stewardess saying he has a…...

As we march toward awards season, let.s take a look back at the best movies of 2017 so far. Guess what? Thrillers take the cake! Take a look at my favorite films of the year.so far.

Here are the runners-up (in no particular order):

Colossal

The Beguiled

It Comes at Night

Spider-Man: Homecoming

The Lego Batman Movie

I, Daniel Blake

John Wick: Chapter 2

My Scientology Movie

Okja

The Lovers

A United Kingdom

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Risk

The Wedding Plan

Megan Leavey

What about the worst?

These films all have a common denominator . interesting premise but faltered at the end. From .Transformers: The Last Knight. to .Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,. the movies mentioned below showed some promise but then we all walked out of the theatres feeling empty! And I Really Hate That Feeling!!!!

Transformers: The Last Knight

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales...

Here are my favorite movies of the year, so far! What.s yours? Here.s my list (in no particular order):

Wonder Woman

Colossal

Logan

Get Out

The Beguiled

It Comes at Night

Baby Driver

Spider-Man: Homecoming

War for the Planet of the Apes

The Lego Batman Movie

The Big Sick

I, Daniel Blake

John Wick: Chapter 2

The Lost City of Z

My Scientology Movie

Okja

The Lovers

A United Kingdom

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

Risk

The Wedding Plan

Megan Leavey...

One year ago, the post-Oscar specialized rebound began with the release of “Eye in the Sky” and “Hello, My Name Is Doris.” Each opened with per-theater averages over $20,000; then, with support from older audiences all across the country, made $19 million and $14 million, respectively.

This year it’s “Personal Shopper,” with the French film starring Kristen Stewart showing unexpected interest. “Raw” (Focus) and “A Sense of the Ending” (Lionsgate) also managed PTAs over $10,000, indicating some chance for future success.

Ahead of any other new release in PTA was a single theater, premiere-event boosted initial date for “A Very Sordid Wedding” in Palm Springs. This week also saw the very limited opening of “Burning Sands,” the second film in the Sundance 2017 U.S. dramatic competition to find its home on Netflix. As usual, no gross for this, which is sort of beside the point.

Opening

Personal Shopper (IFC) – Metacritic: 77; Festivals include: Cannes,...

Louis Theroux’s latest documentary, My Scientology Movie, posed a unique challenge for the veteran filmmaker: How do you make a movie about a subject that has no interest in cooperating?

The answer, he learned, is you get creative. Theroux’s film has all the hallmarks of other notable Scientology exposés like Paul Haggis’ Going Clear and Leah Remini’s A&E series, including emotional interviews with ex-members and bizarre confrontations with parishioners and private investigators.

What separates My Scientology Movie from its predecessors is Theroux’s use of dramatic reenactments as a way not only to capture a version...

On a recent Sunday morning in London, BBC documentary host Louis Theroux was cooking pancakes for his children in his pajamas when local police came to his home to look into a reported threat on his life.

Then things got stranger. The police said they learned of the threat because the Church of Scientology had reached out to them … to pass along word of someone else purportedly out to harm Theroux.

Read More: Tribeca Review: ‘My Scientology Movie’ Is a Tinseltown Riff on ‘The Act of Killing’

“Maybe, thanks to them, I was saved from having some deranged Louis Theroux-hater coming around and whacking me around the head,” said Theroux, whose latest documentary, “My Scientology Movie,” opens in theaters today. “I just thought, this is vaguely comical.”

A certain amount of strange behavior is to be expected when making a movie about Scientology. The organization is well known for...

Taking a just-fresh-enough approach to justify another trip to the deep "Isn't Scientology bizarre?" well, John Dower's My Scientology Movie sends journalist Louis Theroux on a straight-faced mission to let the organization's muckity-mucks speak for themselves, knowing full well that's never going to happen. The backup plan in this case involves not just the usual interviews with prominent apostates, but an intriguing use of actors to re-create some of the stories we've been hearing for years about what it's like to be in the inner circle. Those whose curiosity wasn't sated by Alex Gibney's highbrow Going Clear will appreciate this...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Assassin’s Creed (Justin Kurzel)

Over three-dozen times has Hollywood tried their hand at the videogame adaptation, and the results, to say the least, have left much to be desired. Perhaps it’s the lack of venerable source material, but translating the entertainment factor of videogames — an experience in which the user often repeatedly fails until some enjoyment is ultimately had — has most adaptations feeling like one is watching characters play in God mode,...

With $88 million last weekend, “Logan” (20th Century Fox) made the case for a March box office rebound. “Kong: Skull Island” (Universal) should maintain that momentum, though not at quite the same level.

With a production cost of $190 million (double the “Logan” pricetag), “Kong” will need major worldwide appeal to justify the expense. Produced by the now-Chinese-owned Legendary Pictures, who are coming off the shaky “The Great Wall,” the new film ticks all the boxes for a hit.

It’s a massive production, familiar enough for traction but still fresh (particularly for foreign viewers), and sufficiently similar to other hits (see: “Jurassic Park” franchise). And, there’s enough intelligence in the directing and acting talent to suggest a good critical reaction. The director is Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who made his debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival with “The Kings of Summer;” the cast includes Tom Hiddleston, Oscar-winner Brie Larson, John C. Reilly,...

Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out….but mostly movies.

This Past Weekend:

It was absolutely no surprise that Hugh Jackman’s last Wolverine movie Logan would top the box office, but it actually ended up doing even better than my prediction when actual numbers came in, grossing $88.3 million over the weekend. That makes it the fourth highest X-Movie opening (including Deadpool) but also the biggest R-rated opening for March, defeating 300’s once-impressive $70 million opening. It’s also the fourth highest R-rated opening of all time after Deadpool, The Matrix Reloaded and American Sniper.

The bigger surprise was how well Jordan Peele’s thriller Get Out held up in its second weekend, not only because it was going up against Logan, but also because high-profile horror films tend...

Can there be such a thing as too many Scientology exposés? Given the volume (and nature) of the allegations that have been made against the church over the years—reports of abuse, stories of bizarre behavior and rituals, shocking testimonials from former members—any attempt to tell us more about the inner workings of that organization feels like a public service. Still, after numerous magazine articles, a few books, a television series, a comprehensive documentary, a pretty brilliant episode of South Park, and a boldly fictionalized version of the L. Ron Hubbard story, one would hope that a new film on the topic might possess at least a few fresh nuggets of wisdom or information. My Scientology Movie has very little of either to offer. Instead, this stunt-driven nonfiction project rearranges the well-reported dirt on the church, placing it into the context of something considerably less useful: a documentary about...

BBC journalist Louis Theroux explores the Church of Scientology in his new documentary, “My Scientology Movie.” “Following a long fascination with the religion and with much experience in dealing with eccentric, unpalatable and unexpected human behavior, the beguilingly unassuming Theroux won’t take no for an answer when his request to enter the Church’s headquarters is turned down,” reads the official description of the film.

Read More: Louis Theroux Takes On Xenu With Documentary ‘My Scientology Movie’ — Review

Besides unscripted scenes, the film, directed by John Dower (“Ronald,” “The Last 48 Hours of Kurt Cobain”), also includes a series of scripted scenes in which actors replay incidents former Scientology members claim they experienced being part of the church. The film features interviews with Jefferson Hawkins, Marc Headley and Marty Rathbun, who all worked for the Church of Scientology in the past, and actors Tom De Vocht, Paz de la Huerta and Steven Mango,...

With a massive amount of critical acclaim at its back, 20th Century Fox's Logan was poised to come away with an easy box office win. Early box office projections put Logan between $60 million and $70 million, but like most box office hits, it opened above and beyond its expectations. The box office estimates started rolling in today, with the superhero adventure taking in $85.3 million, easily beating fellow newcomers The Shack and Before I Fall. Last weekend's winner Get Out also proved that it has some staying power, dropping just 21.8%, coming in second place with $26.1 million

Logan is currently at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 83 positive reviews and just four negative reviews, with Before I Fall also faring well with critics with 64% on Rt, although The Shack failed to win over the critics with 16% on Rt. As far as opening weekend rollout, Logan, featuring Hugh Jackman's final performance as Wolverine, is opening in 4,071 theaters this weekend,...

Scientology is a touchy subject, especially in Hollywood, which is why we rarely see any kind of "insider" documentation about it. Bespectacled documentarian Louis Theroux (The Most Hated Family in America) attempts to investigate the organization in My Scientology Movie, in theaters March 3, with his unique spin using interviews with ex-members and actor reenactments. Also this week in limited release is The Last Word, starring Shirley MacLaine as a controlling businesswoman who hires...

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There’s ghosts, mutants, David Lynch, gorillas, cannibalism, the afterlife, and more to experience in theaters this month. Aside from the theatrical offerings, we can’t neglect mentioning the documentary adaptation Five Came Back — which explores the careers of five iconic Hollywood directors and their experience in World War II — hitting Netflix at the end of the month. Check out our picks for what to see below and let us know what you’re most looking forward to.

Matinees to See: Catfight (3/3), Before I Fall (3/3), Donald Cried (3/3), My Scientology Movie (3/3), Table 19 (3/3), Wolves (3/3), The Sense of an Ending (3/10), Burning Sands (3/10), Brimstone (3/10), 13 Minutes (3/17), Beauty and the Beast (3/17), The Belko Experiment (3/17), Burn Your Maps (3/17), The Devil’s Candy (3/17), Bokeh (3/24), I Called Him Morgan (3/24), Wilson (3/24), Life (3/24), Cezanne et moi (3/31), and Ghost in the Shell (3/31),

15. The Zookeeper’s Wife (Niki Caro; March 31)

Synopsis: The Zookeeper’s Wife tells the account of keepers of the Warsaw Zoo,...

Universal Pictures' thriller Get Out took audiences by storm in its opening weekend, even out-grossing its debut estimate of $30.5 million with an actual debut of $33.5 million. It now sits at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes after one negative review surfaced yesterday, out of 143 in total, and now it looks to defend its crown against 20th Century Fox's Logan, Lionsgate's The Shack and Open Road Films' Before I Fall, and even if Get Out only suffers a minimal drop, it most likely won't repeat atop the box office. The top spot will most likely be overtaken with the highly-anticipated Logan, which is putting up some impressive numbers of its own on Rotten Tomatoes, ahead of its opening weekend.

Logan is currently at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 83 positive reviews and just four negative reviews, with Before I Fall also faring well with critics with 64% on Rt, although there aren't enough reviews posted for The Shack quite yet.

While the animated spin-off The Lego Batman Movie has had no trouble winning in its first two box office weekends, it was largely expected to cede its box office crown to Get Out this weekend. While Get Out did take the top spot this weekend, it did so with a larger total than expected, earning an impressive $30.5 million in its opening weekend. What's even more impressive is that total represents more than six times its meager budget of $4.5 million. The winner for the last two weekends, The Lego Batman Movie, dropped to second place with $19 million, which was just a 41.8% drop from last weekend, while the other two new releases, Collide and Rock Dog, failed to even crack the top 10.

None of this weekend's new releases had anywhere near the type of wide release of The Lego Batman Movie, which is currently playing in 4,088 theaters. Box Office Mojo reports that Get Out debuted in 2,781 theaters,...

My Scientology Movie Magnolia Pictures Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: John Dower Writer: Louis Theroux, John Dower Cast: Rob Alter, Tom Cruise, Paz de la Huerta, Tom De Vocht, Jefferson Hawkins, Marc Headley, Steven Mango, Andrew Perez, Marty Rathbun, Stacia Roybal, Conner Stark, Louis Theroux Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 2/22/17 Opens: […]

The post My Scientology Movie Review: Bizarre scenes of bikini-clad woman appeared first on Shockya.com.

Delve deep inside the burlesque dance movement with our exclusive clip from the upcoming documentary entitled Burleseque: Heart of the Glitter Tribe, which will receive a theatrical release on March 3. This clip showcases one of the dancers, Zora Von Pavonine, who explains that she takes inspiration from the high-end "couture" fashion lines designed by Jean-Paul Gauthier and Alexander McQueen, which are much more "radical" than their other clothing lines. This clip also shows Zora designing and putting these elaborate outfits together herself, which has taken quite a toll on many aspects of her life.

This film from XLrator Media explores not only dancers like Zora, but also the growing popularity of burlesque across the U.S., and its evolution to "neo-burlesque," which is a combination of several elements such as the classic striptease and other modern dance forms, with comedy, and, in some cases, fire acts. This clip also reveals...

Warner Bros.' animated spin-off The Lego Batman Movie has had no trouble taking down a other high-profile competitors in its first two weeks in theaters, beating Fifty Shades Darker and John Wick Chapter 2 in its opening weekend, while handily defeating The Great Wall, Fist Fight and A Cure For Wellness last weekend. This Friday, it may face its greatest challenge yet, with the critically-acclaimed thriller Get Out debuting alongside the action film Collide and the animated family comedy Rock Dog. We're predicting that Get Out will just barely win over The Lego Batman Movie, with the thriller opening to the tune of $23.4 million, as The Lego Batman Movie drops to second place with $19.8 million.

None of this weekend's new releases will have anywhere near the type of wide release of The Lego Batman Movie, which is currently playing in 4,088 theaters. Box Office Mojo reports that Get Out will open in an estimated 2,700 theaters,...

Screen considers potential runners and riders.

The BBC is likely to announce its new head of film within the next two weeks, according to sources close to the process.

Scroll down for potential candidates and the original job spec

That timetable should come as a relief to those under consideration for the role and to wider industry who will want to begin building or growing their relationship with the new boss.

The job, which is considered one of the UK’s most prestigious posts, became vacant in autumn 2016 following the departure of long-time chief Christine Langan. BBC Films veteran Joe Oppenheimer has been serving as acting head of film since then.

The incoming head of film is expected to have an annual war chest of around £12m for production, cementing BBC Films’ position as one the three mainstays of public funding in the UK along with the BFI and Film4.

The organisation advertised the position (as ‘director...

It's been over a year since My Scientology Movie had its world premiere in the U.K., but despite a couple of initial warnings, things haven't dramatically changed for its filmmaker, the British documentarian Louis Theroux.

After the film — an often hilarious doc, in which Theroux attempts to gain access to the Church of Scientology and finds himself on the other end of its own video cameras — screened at the BFI London Film Festival in 2015, Theroux told The Hollywood Reporter that he was aware his life could "get turned upside down."

But now living back in...