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As always with awards season, there have been many declarations of whether the group of nominees or winners would be the best or worst films ever to take home Best Picture. To help us quantify that statement, we jumped into Oscar history and filled in any of our blind spots over the last few weeks. Here is our ranking (from worst to best) of every Best Picture winner from the Academy Awards.

97. Cimarron (1931) FandomWire Best Picture Rankings – Cimarron Directed by Wesley Ruggles

While the Western has struggled with depicting non-white characters since the beginning of the genre, Cimarron is beyond many of its contemporaries. It’s hard to fully explain how racist Cimarron comes across in 2025, especially in its depictions of black and Indigenous characters. However, Cimarron is also boring beyond compare. Unlike Gigi, which was wildly celebrated as one of the great Oscar winners of all time, Cimarron only took home three wins,...

There is no question now: Deal or No Deal Island, the spin-off of Deal or No Deal, is a hit.

The premise of the new game show is simple: The 13 contestants travel to an island “where they compete in daring challenges to find hidden briefcases worth over $200 million,” according to Rotten Tomatoes.

Some familiar faces among the contestants include Boston Rob Mariano, Claudia Jordan, and Joe Manganiello, the host.

The Survivor alum Rob Mariano, aka Boston Rob, has shared some excellent news about Deal or No Deal Island on his Instagram feed.

The show is in Season 1 and doing very well with its viewer numbers. It earned an additional appearance on NBC and is steaming on Peacock.

Boston Rob also shared that the show is “setting records,” with 24 million viewers watching it on NBC and Peacock.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Boston Rob Mariano (@bostonrobmariano)

Fans...

Jackie Chan has made a lot of successful movies both in his homeland and in the international arena. With the hundreds of projects under his belt, some were not well-received by the audience. One of the action star’s most popular Hollywood films is Disney’s Around the World in 80 Days.

Around the World in 80 Days (2004)

It was helmed as a reboot of the highly acclaimed 1956 version and an adaptation of Jules Verne’s 1873 novel. Apart from Chan, the film starred Steve Coogan and Cecile de France.

Around the World in 80 Days Was A Gigantic Mess

While the title sounds really exciting, Around the World in 80 Days was a critical and commercial flop. It only earned over $72 million worldwide against a production budget of $110 million, which means it lost a profit of at least $38 million. This seems not a really large amount, but the negative reviews...

To celebrate the release of High Tension on Limited Edition Dual 4K Uhd/Blu-ray Box Set & Standard Editions on 4K Uhd & Blu-ray from 11 December, we’re giving away a Limited Edition Dual 4K Uhd/Blu-Ray Box Set to a lucky winner!

Prepare for some pulse-racing, heart-pounding High Tension. The fantastic French horror from Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Piranha 3D) gets a brand-new Limited Edition 4K/Blu-ray Dual Edition Box set release from masters in the field Second Sight Films this December.

A new entry to the French extremity movement on its release in 2003, this fearsomely violent slasher stars Cécile de France and Maïwenn, as two best friends whose sleepover goes shockingly awry. This brutally violent, fear-fuelled cult classic arrives in the Limited Edition and Standard Edition 4K and Blu-ray versions, on 11 December 2023.

Alex (Maïwenn) and Marie’s (Cécile de France) study-weekend takes a savage turn, when a murderous...

Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts.

Curzon FIlm has acquired UK and Ireland rights to İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge from Brussels-based sales company Be For Films.

The Berlin Panorama title has also sold to King Records for Japan, Nonstop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Alambique for Portugal, Lighthouse Film Distribution for Singapore and Light Year Images for Taiwan.

The film stars Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts at the high school where she works.

To win a Best Picture Oscar, a film has to have something about it.

Only 94 films in history have been given this award. They’re not voted on by the eccentric members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who pick the Golden Globes, or by specialist groups of critics, but by the roughly 10,000 members of the Academy. That is to say, the choice is made by distinguished figures from within the industry.

Sometimes, though, they do still make some baffling choices.

By the time the Oscars roll around at the end of the awards process, a herd mentality tends to have set in.

When everybody has already voted at all the other awards shows for, say, The King’s Speech or The Shape of Water, the Academy members follow suit. It’s rare for a Best Picture winner ever to be a complete surprise.

Nonetheless, a few questionable films have stolen glory that rightfully belonged elsewhere.

To win a Best Picture Oscar, a film has to have something about it.

Only 94 films in history have been given this award. They’re not voted on by the eccentric members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who pick the Golden Globes, or by specialist groups of critics, but by the roughly 10,000 members of the Academy. That is to say, the choice is made by distinguished figures from within the industry.

Sometimes, though, they do still make some baffling choices.

By the time the Oscars roll around at the end of the awards process, a herd mentality tends to have set in.

When everybody has already voted at all the other awards shows for, say, The King’s Speech or The Shape of Water, the Academy members follow suit. It’s rare for a Best Picture winner ever to be a complete surprise.

Nonetheless, a few questionable films have stolen glory that rightfully belonged elsewhere.

Public broadcasting to be funded via Vat instead.

France’s National Assembly has voted to abolish the TV licence fee in favour of financing public broadcasting through Vat.

The €138 annual TV licence bill is paid by every household in France with a television set. It raises €3.7 billion a year, which is invested in public broadcasting.

Of this, 65 is allocated to France Télévisions, 15.9 to Radio France, 7.5 to Arte, 7 to France Médias Monde, 2.4 to audiovisual archive agency Ina and 2.1 to TV5 Monde. The remainder of their budgets are made up through advertising and other state subsidies.

The National Assembly voted to scrap...

It’s like The Amazing Race for the Victorian era. The clock is always ticking in a divertingly old-school Masterpiece adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, Around the World in Eighty Days, sustaining a sense of wonder about the potential for technological mobility before the age of planes and automobiles. Trains, however, play a big part in novice traveler Phileas Fogg’s (David Tennant) quixotic 1872 odyssey to circle the globe in never-before-seen haste. So do hot-air balloons, and boats, and camels. And that’s just the first three (of eight) episodes. (Credit: Tudor Cucu – © Slim 80 Days / Federation Entertainment / Peu Communications / Zdf / Be-films / Rtbf (Télévision belge)) Tennant, a versatile favorite of Doctor Who and Broadchurch fame, nicely manages the transition from stiff-upper-lip fussbudget to wild-eyed adventurer, blurting, “I’ve never felt so alive in my life!” after a near-death experience during a revolution in Paris. Fogg’s in good company with his mercurial French valet,...

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There are worse things to collect than art you enjoy — and there’s something special about owning a physical copy of your favorites movies and TV shows. That’s why, despite the fact that plenty of us have taken the opportunity to pare down our collections amid the streaming wars, we’re also still continually adding to our DVD and Blu-ray collections.

And studios are making it even more appealing to purchase physical media with stunning collector’s edition box sets featuring our favorite films and shows. Below, find a selection of some of the impressive box sets on the market, from stunning packaging to surprising amounts of goodies, new movies to pre-order,...

Claude Gonzalez and Frans Vandenburg have been following the stranger-than-fiction life of filmmaker John Farrow for over 10 years.

Born in 1904 in Marrickville, Sydney, John Farrow’s curious story ranges from fleeing Australia at age 17 to penning a Tahitian French Dictionary, winning an Oscar for co-writing Around the World in 80 Days, to being highly religious and conservative and married to the glamorous Hollywood star Maureen O’Sullivan. Yet on the flip side he obscured his past from his family and fathered an illegitimate son.

As a director, producer, writer and actor he was prolific, making 50 films and working with people like John Wayne, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner. He fathered seven children, including Mia Farrow.

Gonzalez and Vandenburg’s documentary – part mystery, biography and film noir – includes interviews with family members in the US and Australia, and with leading filmmakers and critics including Bruce Beresford, Phillip Noyce, Philippe Mora,...

Do you remember sitting down in the holidays and watching on television one of those all start cast epics such as “Around the World in 80 Days” that frequented Hollywood in the 1960’s. Well now imagine that with a cast of Hong Kong’s finest from the 1980’s and throw in a lot of martial arts amidst the comedy. Now imagine it in the style of a western-only set in the Orient. Sammo Hung certainly liked variety in his directorial career and at his creative peak in the late 1980’s, came up with this polar opposite to the more vicious war epic “Eastern Condors”. A more family friendly, action filled entertainer that throws everything into the mix and finds most of it sticking.

Ching Fong Tin (Sammo Hung) returns to his hometown after attempting to steal goods from Russian soldiers and nearly being captured by bounty hunter...

Charles Beeson, the British television director who helmed episodes of The Mentalist and worked on the upcoming adaptation of Around The World In 80 Days, has died.

Actor Jim Beaver, who collaborated with Beeson on The CW’s Supernatural among other shows, revealed the news on Twitter. Beeson’s agent also confirmed his passing when contacted by Deadline.

“Rip my great friend Charles Beeson,” Beaver wrote. “A sweeter and more gently gregarious fellow you couldn’t meet.” In reply to a question from The Mentalist executive producer Ashley Gable, Beaver said Beeson suffered a heart attack.

Rip my great friend Charles Beeson, who started directing on EastEnders and worked as a genial and genuinely lovely friend directing many episodes of Supernatural, Revolution, and Timeless that I worked on. A sweeter and more gently gregarious fellow you couldn’t meet. pic.twitter.com/SXW9H45RGO

— Jim Beaver (@jumblejim) April 27, 2021

In a statement,...

Chloe Zhao won at the Directors Guild of America Awards on April 11 for her helming of “Nomadland.” The guild has a great track record of previewing the Best Director winner at the Academy Awards. Since aligning its awards with the academy, only eight of the DGA picks failed to pick up an Oscar bookend. That stat makes Zhao all but certain to become the second female helmer to prevail at the Academy Awards after Kathryn Bigelow.

Bigelow numbers among the 55 DGA winners for best director of the year who went on to claim bragging rights as the helmer of the Oscar winner for Best Picture. But we are just coming off two of those 17 years when there was a disconnect between the guild and the academy.

In 2020, Sam Mendes won his second Directors Guild Award for helming the WWI drama “1917” but the Oscar went to “Parasite” director Boon Jong Ho,...

With his Best Actor Oscar nomination for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” Chadwick Boseman is the first actor posthumously nominated for an Academy Award since Heath Ledger.

Ledger was nominated and won Best Supporting Actor at the 2009 ceremony for “The Dark Knight.” It’s widely anticipated Boseman will also win an Oscar at the 93rd annual Academy Awards in April for his “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” performance.

See 2021 Oscars nominations full list

Throughout Oscars history, there have been multiple people nominated for an Academy Award after their death. Before Boseman, the most recent posthumous nominee was “Fences” playwright August Wilson, who received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2017 ceremony. Before Wilson, Walt Martin received a nomination for Best Sound Mixing for “American Sniper” at the 2015 ceremony.

The last posthumous Oscar winner was producer Gil Friesen, who won Best Documentary at the 2013 ceremony for “20 Feet From Stardom.”

Boseman almost...

The Directors Guild of America has been handing out awards for 72 years. Fifty-five of its picks for the best director of the year went on to claim bragging rights as the helmer of the Oscar winner for Best Picture. This translates into a success rate of 6%. That eclipses the track record of both the PGA (21/31 = 68%) and SAG (12/25 = 48%).

But we are just coming off back-to-back years when there was a disconnect between the guild and the academy. In 2020, the DGA honored Sam Mendes for his helming of “1917” and the PGA picked it as their pic of the year. SAG saluted the cast of “Parasite,” which went on to sweep the Oscars bagging Best Picture and Best Director for Boon Jong Ho, who also shared in the original screenplay win.

In 2019, Alfonso Cuarón won the DGA prize for “Roma” but “Green Book” took home the top prize at the Academy Awards.

After production was halted on David Tennant drama Around The World In 80 Days amid the escalating coronavirus pandemic last March, filming has resumed in Romania. In all, the shoot will be spread across locations and studios in Romania and South Africa over a five-month period.

A Slim Film + Television and Federation co-production for the European Alliance, the project has also been boarded by co-production partners Masterpiece in the U.S., Peu Communications in South Africa, and Belgium’s Be-films and Rtbf. Daro Film associate produces.

Joining Tennant in the eight-part adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic adventure are French actor Ibrahim Koma (Oss 177) as Phileas Fogg’s irrepressible valet, Passepartout, and Leonie Benesch (The Crown) as determined journalist, Abigail ‘Fix’ Fortescue.

Also starring as series regulars are Jason Watkins (Des) and Peter Sullivan (Poldark).

Guest actors now joining the cast include Lindsay Duncan (A Discovery Of Witches...

Iron Mask, also known as Viy 2: Journey to China, is now set to be released available On Digital and On Demand from November 20th. The movie finds Hollywood action icons Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger pitted against each other for the first time in this wonderfully over-the-top looking fantasy adventure epic.

This larger-than-life, globe-trotting tale has gained some traction thanks to the presence of Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the trailer showing the iconic pair thrown down for the first time in cinematic history. The duo has starred together in the past in the 2004 family adventure movie Around the World in 80 Days, but Iron Mask looks much closer to what fans of the action stars have dreamt about for the last few decades.

Set in the 18th century, Iron Mask follows the continuing exploits of cartographer Jonathan Green as he undertakes a scientific and supernatural journey that...

Billy Dee Williams finally made his welcome return to the Star Wars galaxy in last year's The Rise of Skywalker, but what about getting the beloved character a solo movie? It hasn't happened and, so far as we know, it's not something Lucasfilm has on the table. At least not yet. But thanks to some new fan posters, we have a look at how cool a Lando movie trilogy could have been.

During quarantine I imagined we lived in a world where we had a Lando Calrissian spin-off series pic.twitter.com/6MDe7hrXYX

— Peter Stults (@Stultsified) March 29, 2020

Artist Peter Stults decided to make use of some of his downtime during this period of social distancing and self-isolation by crafting a series of posters for what he dubbed the Calrissian Chronicles. The posters are very reminiscent, stylistically, of the 80s VHS art for the original Star Wars trilogy. That is suiting,...

Without a doubt, Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger are two of the biggest action heroes in the world and many have often asked the question of what would ever happen if the two powerhouses squared off in a movie? Well, luckily for us, the folks over at Signature Entertainment are now set to answer that with The Iron Mask, which will see the legendary superstars duking it out on the big screen.

The project has had a long, complicated road to release so far. In fact, The Iron Mask wasn’t even its original title. Throughout its development, it was called Journey To China: The Mystery of Iron Mask, Viy 2: Journey to China and Mystery of Dragon Seal. But it’s finally made it through production and is ready for us to lay eyes on, with the newly released clip up above teasing just a bit of the exciting...

‘Avatar’.

Filming of James Cameron’s four Avatar sequels in New Zealand has been delayed indefinitely due to coronavirus concerns.

Meanwhile Slim Film + Television has suspended for at least one month production in South Africa of the big budget TV series Around the World In 80 Days, which Seven Studios is co-producing.

Cameron and producer Jon Landau’s production company Lightstorm Entertainment had been due to finish filming Avatar 2 and 3 in the northern spring.

Landau told the New Zealand Herald he and a group of colleagues have postponed their flight to Wellington and will continue working in Los Angeles.

“If I told you we are going to know something in two weeks I’d be lying,” he said. “I might not be wrong – even a broken clock is right twice a day. But I would be lying because I don’t know.

“We’re in the midst of...

Exclusive: Sky has shut down filming on Season 3 of Britannia — making it the Comcast-owned pay-tv outfit’s first major production casualty of the coronavirus chaos.

The historical drama produced by Neal Street Productions and Vertigo Films will take a break for an unspecified period of time as Sky prioritizes the safety of cast and crew. It follows other major UK dramas, including Peaky Blinders and Around the World in 80 Days, also postponing filming this week.

More from DeadlineCoronavirus: TV Shows That Have Halted Or Delayed Production Amid OutbreakCoronavirus-Related Shutdowns Leave Series Without Finales, Create Dilemma For 'Empire' & 'Supernatural'Vast Majority Of UK Cinemas Shuttered As Indie Chains Join Multiplexes In Closing To Halt Coronavirus Spread

A Sky spokesman said: “Due to the ongoing situation with coronavirus (Covid-19), Sky has taken the decision to suspend filming on the third series of Britannia. We are in discussions with the...

Exclusive: Slim Film + Television has halted production on David Tennant drama Around the World In 80 Days as the coronavirus crisis continues to hit British-made scripted series.

The production company, run by former Kudos boss Simon Crawford Collins, has suspended shooting on the eight-part show for a month, and cast and crew are being flown home over the next 24 hours. Tennant, who plays Phileas Fogg, is among those returning to the UK.

More from DeadlineBAFTA Postpones TV Awards Amid Coronavirus OutbreakDisney Taking Massive Financial Hit But Has Cash Enough To Weather Disruption, Moody's SaysBroadway League Weighing Cdc Recommendation Of Eight-Week Cancellations

“We’ll crawl over hot coals to make our shows, but there comes a point when you go: this isn’t fair on the teams and their families back at home. We’ve got to call a temporary hiatus and look after everyone and get them home,” Crawford Collins said.

Ron Fricke’s 1992 documentary celebrating the natural beauty of the world and its cultures makes full use of a little-used but glorious photographic process, 70 mm Todd-ao. That crystal clear format was used for 1956’s Around the World in 80 Days and Fricke takes that as a challenge, traveling to 24 countries on six continents to assemble this one-of-a-kind movie. A sequel was produced in 2011, Samsara, which explored many of Baraka’s same themes.

The post Baraka appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Scream Factory is looking to make this upcoming summer one to remember for horror fans with their announcement of six new Blu-ray releases coming out this June.

Announced on their Facebook page, Scream Factory's June Blu-ray releases include The Hills Run Red, Orca, Universal Horror Collection Volume 5, and Collector's Editions for Tales From the Darkside: The Movie and Thirteen Ghosts (2001).

Full special features will be revealed at later dates, but in the meantime you can check out the announcement posts and cover art below!

Tales From the Darkside: The Movie Collector's Edition Blu-ray: "Michael McDowell, George Romero, Stephen King and Arthur Conan Doyle present a terrifying anthology of fear with 1990’s Tales From The Darkside: The Movie—which is coming to Blu-ray this Summer! Details we have currently are as follows:

• National street date for North America (Region A) is 6/30/2020

• This is being presented as a Collector’s Edition release...

The Alliance, the pact formed by Europe’s top state broadcasters to counter the growing power of Netflix and other streaming giants, has joined forces on a high-end adaptation of bestselling environmental sci-fi thriller “The Swarm.”

As previously announced, multi Emmy award-winning producer Frank Doelger (“Game of Thrones”) is executive producing the English language series via his Intaglio Films, which is a joint venture between Beta Film and German pubcaster Zdf. Italy’s Rai Fiction, France Televisions and Scandinavian streamer Viaplay have now come on board, they announced in Berlin.

Shooting on the eight-episode “The Swarm,” which is based on Frank Schätzing’s novel, which has been translated in some 25 countries, is set to start in 2020.

Oscar-nominated producer Mark Huffam has also come on board alongside Doelger as an executive producer, in association with Schätzing and Eric Welbers of the UK’s ndF. The series is being produced by Friedemann Goez...

Disney is now so known for market dominance and popular culture ubiquity that it’s easy to forget how bad Disney’s box office fortunes were when outgoing CEO Bob Iger took charge in 2005. In the final years of Michael Eisner’s tenure atop Disney in the early 2000s, the studio had its box office hits. Pixar, still rising to power as the top animation studio in the world, was pumping out hits like “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles.” And Walt Disney Pictures made live-action hits like “Pirates of the Caribbean” — despite Eisner’s initial resistance to make that film. Touchstone Pictures was also producing more mature films that found widespread success like M. Night Shyamalan’s “Signs.” But for every one of those hits, there were also plenty of misses. Walt Disney Animation Studios flopped with films like “Treasure Planet” and “Home on the Range,” and the live-action division...

The Directors Guild of America has been handing out awards for 71 years. Fifty-five of its picks for the best director of the year went on to claim bragging rights as the helmer of the Oscar winner for Best Picture. This translates into a success rate of 77%. That eclipses the track record of both the PGA (21/30 = 70%) and SAG (11/22 = 50%).

We are just coming off one of those 16 years when there was a disconnect between the guild and the academy. Alfonso Cuarón won the DGA prize for “Roma” but “Green Book” took home the top prize at the Academy Awards. While that film’s director, Peter Farrelly, had been nominated by the guild he was nubbed by the directors branch of the academy. And his movie did not number among the five nominated for Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards; “Black Panther” took home that prize.

In 2018, Guillermo del Toro bagged the DGA...

In this week’s jam-packed International TV Newswire, Variety catches you up on HBO’s first Danish original series “Kamikaze,” the first deal between ViacomCBS-owned broadcasters since the merger, David Tennant’s upcoming 80-day global circumnavigation, an un-scripted deal between Japan’s Nippon TV and the U.K.’s The Story Lab. Also on the mix: Eccho Rights’ newest global pickup from Sweden, U.K. Creative Content Eis Fund’s first investment, and the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize’s jury announcement.

HBO Europe Announces First Danish Original Series

For HBO it’s always been about quality, not quantity, so it’s no surprise that HBO Europe has enlisted an all-star team for its first Danish original series, “Kamikaze.” The series will be directed by “Borgen” director Annette K. Olesen and executive produced by Hanne Palmquist, and Steve Matthews and Antony Root.

Based on the novel “Muleum” by Norwegian writer Erlend Loe,...

David Tennant as Doctor Who.

David Tennant will play explorer Phileas Fogg in a big-budgeted TV adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic Around the World in 80 Days co-commissioned by the Seven Network.

Set to shoot in South Africa and Romania in February, the eight-part drama is from the UK-based Slim Film + Television, which is majority-owned by Seven West Media.

Following an outrageous bet, Fogg and his valet Passepartout (French actor Ibrahim Koma) embark in 1872 on the legendary journey of circumnavigating the globe in just 80 days.

They are joined by aspiring journalist Abigail Fix (The Crown’s Leonie Benesch), who seizes the chance to report on this extraordinary story.

Steve Barron (The Durrells) will be lead director with Charles Beeson (The Mentalist) lined up to direct a number of episodes. The writing team includes Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars) and Caleb Ranson (Child of Mine).

Budgeted at about €3 million ($4.7 million) per episode,...

No matter where on Earth you put him, David Tennant will charm the people who live there. So it makes sense that the Doctor Who and Good Omens star has been tapped to star as Phileas Fogg in a TV adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days. Deadline reports that an

...

Read More >

Other Links From TVGuide.com Around the World in 80 DaysDavid TennantLeonie Benesch...

Exclusive: David Tennant is to play explorer Phileas Fogg in an adaptation of Jules Verne’s classic Around the World in 80 Days.

The Doctor Who and Broadchurch star is fronting the eight-part drama, which is produced by Slim Film + Television.

Following an outrageous bet, Fogg and his valet, Passepartout, played by rising French actor Ibrahim Koma, take on the legendary journey of circumnavigating the globe in just 80 days, swiftly joined by aspiring journalist Abigail Fix, played by The Crown’s Leonie Benesch, who seizes the chance to report on this extraordinary story.

The series is being adapted by writers including Ashley Pharoah (Life on Mars) and Caleb Ranson (Child of Mine) and filming is set to start in February 2020 principally in South Africa and Romania ahead of its launch at the end of 2020.

Steve Barron (The Durrells) will be lead director with Charles Beeson (The Mentalist) also lined...

Chris Longo Jan 24, 2020

Here are the new and old titles you can expect on Disney+ for February 2020.

The streaming space is a crowded one. Between Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple TV+ and the 2020 launches of NBCUniversal’s Peacock and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, the competition for your money and attention is fierce.

Now Disney has made the splashiest entrance into the streaming landscape with Disney+. The service’s library features Disney live-action and animated classics, and content from Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, and National Geographic.

Disney+ is more than just the greatest hits from the House of Mouse. The service is set to roll out original feature films, TV shows, and documentaries. For instance, Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7 is set to arrive this month.

Grab a Free Trial of Disney+, on us, right here!

Below we have details on the new content that will be available to stream this...

Though it might seem like just any other puppet you’d find at the Laika stop-motion animation studio, its hardest challenge yet was creating the furry, plump and bright orange monster that became the title character of their latest film “Missing Link.”

The team of stop motion animators had to determine how to make Link’s belly jiggle as it walked, how to stretch its arms, and how its fur should move in the wind. And like any troublesome actor, that often meant this diva of a puppet frequently showed up late to set.

“This little avocado with a face is the most complicated thing we’ve ever created at the studio,” Brian McLean, Laika’s director of rapid prototyping told TheWrap’s Steve Pond following a screening of “Missing Link” at the Landmark Theatres in Los Angeles. “His simple shape and silhouette was really difficult to figure out how...

Debra Richards.

Newly-anointed Netflix director production policy for the Apac region Debra Richards will be joining New Zealand’s Spada (Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand) conference in November.

Spada 2019 will be held at Auckland’s Aotea Centre across November 20-21 and will be officially opened by New Zealand’s Minister of Broadcasting, Communications and Digital Media, the Hon Kris Faafoiand.

Richards, a veteran of the Australian screen industry will bring her 30 year experience working with Ausfilm, Astra and the ABC to the conference. The event will mark the former Ausfilm CEO’s first public New Zealand address since joining Netflix in early September.

Special international speaker Simon Crawford Collins, the founder of UK drama production house Slim Film & TV will also take stage, joining the international guest speaker list led by headliner, Orange is the New Black showrunner Jenji Kohan.

Slim Film & TV is currently working with...

Nu Boyana Film Studios, the Bulgarian production hub that’s serviced Hollywood blockbusters like the “Expendables” franchise and the upcoming “Rambo V,” is preparing to break ground on a studio in Thessaloniki, Greece.

The partnership with John Kalafatis, CEO of the New York City-based York Studios, will be dubbed Nu Boyana Hellenic, and will highlight the growing cooperation between the neighboring countries, as the introduction of Greece’s 35% cash rebate last year has a ripple effect across the region.

“With Greece announcing its tax rebates, we started looking a lot more seriously at what opportunities are there,” says Nu Boyana Film Studios CEO Yariv Lerner. “We realized it’s a great country with great locations, but not much infrastructure.”

The studio is the latest investment by Nu Boyana in a Greek industry that’s gotten a boost from its new incentive scheme. Last fall Lerner announced a partnership with the...

Therese Hegarty

Seven Studios has promoted Therese Hegarty to CEO and hired former Nine Network executive Andrew Backwell as director of production, responsible for non-scripted content.

As part of the reshuffle head of content sales Richard Henson moves up to director of content sales.

Formerly director, content distribution and rights, Hegarty’s promotion is a reward for the production division’s expansion, this year delivering the seventh consecutive growth in earnings before interest and tax.

Australia’s largest producer of long form premium content, Seven Studios last year produced more than 1,000 hours of content all genres, with 14 new commissions and more than 20 hit series returning or in production.

In the second half of last year, the division’s revenues from third-party sales jumped by 20 per cent to $45.7 million.

In March Seven launched non-scripted unit Seven Studios UK, strengthening its presence in that market and complementing its investment in London-based scripted specialists Slim Film + Television.

“Green Book” scored big Sunday night, taking home the Oscar for best picture amid a competitive field of films that all could have taken home the top prize themselves.

And many viewers thought they should have, including “BlacKkKlansman” director Spike Lee, who reportedly tried to storm out of the Dolby Theatre after the best picture winner was announced. Jordan Peele, the Oscar-winning writer-director behind last year’s “Get Out,” was among other attendees who reportedy didn’t applaud the win.

“I’m snakebit. Every time someone’s driving somebody, I lose,” Lee later told reporters backstage, in reference to his breakout film “Do the Right Thing,” which lost the Oscar for adapted screenplay to 1990’s “Driving Miss Daisy.” “I thought I was court side at the Garden and the refs made a bad call.”

“Green Book” is far from the only controversial decision Academy voters have made over the decades,...

Robert Vaughn and Paul Newman in the 1974 blockbuster "The Towering Inferno", nominated for Best Picture.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Movie fans have complained for many years that the Academy is increasingly focusing on nominating art house movies at the expense of blockbusters in the Best Picture Oscar category. The Washington Post investigates whether this is myth or reality and comes down on the side of the latter, providing charts and inflation-adjusted calculations to show that more than ever the Best Picture winners are generally not among the most popular with the public. But should they be? The Oscars are not supposed to be a popularity contest, though someone should tell the Academy that, given their botched lead up for plans for this year's telecast. Should a film get the Best Picture Oscar simply because it is a huge boxoffice success? The Academy was aware of its members honoring smaller art house...

To celebrate the 4K restoration re-release of The Dam Busters in cinemas for one night only on May 17, we’re giving 3 of you the chance to win a goody bag containing three classic war films and a stunning poster.

Regarded as a British classic, The Dam Busters is directed by Michael Anderson (Logan’s Run/Around the World in 80 Days). Based on the legendary true story of Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his squadron, The Dam Busters (1955) captures all the thrilling action and suspense of the magnificent exploits of a group of young pilots and their crews, charged with taking out the supposedly impenetrable Ruhr river dams of Germany with an ingeniously designed bouncing bomb. Starring Richard Todd as Gibson and Michael Redgrave as scientist and engineer Dr Barnes Wallis, the film also immortalised composer’s Eric Coates’s masterpiece: The Dam Busters March.

On the May 17, TV historian...

Sound mixer Kevin O’Connell had lost out 20 times before last night’s ceremony.

Forget Moonlight, Emma Stone or even Asghar Fahardi, the most heart-warming winner at the 2017 Oscars was Kevin O’Connell, who picked up the best sound mixing award for Hacksaw Ridge.

Sound engineer O’Connell had previously been nominated 20 times without winning, leading The Guardian to dub him the “unluckiest nominee in the history of the Academy Awards”.

After finally winning the Oscar for Hacksaw Ridge alongside Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace, O’Connell said: “I can’t even tell you the experience that it was for me. As much as I thought I was going to know what it felt like, I didn’t.

“And I have to tell you, it was the greatest feeling in my entire life and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had, especially to work with these guys and I’m so grateful. It’s amazing...

This past weekend, the American Society of Cinematographers awarded Greig Fraser for his contribution to Lion as last year’s greatest accomplishment in the field. Of course, his achievement was just a small sampling of the fantastic work from directors of photography, but it did give us a stronger hint at what may be the winner on Oscar night. Ahead of the ceremony, we have a new video compilation that honors all the past winners in the category at the Academy Awards

Created by Burger Fiction, it spans the stunning silent landmark Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans all the way up to the end of Emmanuel Lubezki‘s three-peat win for The Revenant. Aside from the advancements in color and aspect ration, it’s a thrill to see some of cinema’s most iconic shots side-by-side. However, the best way to experience the evolution of the craft is by...

‘La La Land’ and ‘Moonlight’ (Courtesy: Dale Robinette; David Bornfriend/A24)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

Nothing is certain at the Oscars, and that absolutely applies to the best picture and best director categories. While it is common for films to win both of these trophies in a given year, sometimes they can go to two different works. There’s a chance that La La Land and Moonlight could split these categories at the upcoming ceremony — but how often does that happen?

Both of these films are considered frontrunners in both the best picture and best director category at the upcoming Oscars. This site’s namesake, The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg, lists La La Land — written and directed by Damien Chazelle — and Moonlight — written and directed by Barry Jenkins — as the top two contenders in both categories in his latest check-in on the race. The two films have been...

After the critical and financial disappointment of A Star Is Born (1954), Judy took another hiatus from moviemaking. While she continued an active concert touring schedule, and began popping up on television on occasion, exhaustion, disappointment and illness kept her from another film. It took an old friend to coax her back into movies, in the weirdest cameo of her career.

The Movie: Pepe (Columbia, 1960)

The Songwriters: Dory Previn (lyrics), Andre Previn (music)

The Cast: Cantinflas, Shirley Jones, Dan Dailey, directed by George Sidney

(A cleaner version with proper aspect ratios can be found here.)

The Story: Cantinflas was already a beloved megastar of Mexican cinema by the time he made a splash in Around the World in 80 Days. Hoping to capitalize on a new opportunity, Columbia cast him in Pepe, and added cameos by 35 Hollywood stars just in case the Mexican comedian didn't pan out.

Judy was one of the 35 cameos.

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Sir Ken Adam (1921-2016) - Production Designer. He won Oscars for his work on Barry Lyndon and The Madness of King George and was nominated for Around the World in Eighty Days, The Spy Who Loved Me and Addams Family Values. He also worked on Dr. Strangelove, Ben-Hur, In & Out, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sleuth and the other James Bond movies Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Dr. No, Diamonds Are...

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April is last call for some great movies on Netflix streaming, including "Flashdance," '"Leon: The Professional," and "Let The Right One In."

Also going bye-bye: several classic Frank Sinatra films including "Anchors Aweigh" (1945), "High Society" (1956), "On The Town" (1949), "Pal Joey" (1957) and "Some Came Running" (1958).

Here's a complete list of the movies and TV shows leaving Netflix in April:

Leaving April 1, 2016

"101 Dalmatians" (1996)

"2 Fast 2 Furious" (2003)

"Along Came a Spider" (2001)

"Along Came Polly" (2004)

"Amistad" (1997)

"Bad Johnson" (2014)

"Bandslam" (2009)

"Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics Collection: Collection 1

"Berkeley in The Sixties" (1990)

"The Butcher's Wife" (1991)

"Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" (2003)

"Chuck's Eat The Street Collection: Collection 1

"Craigslist Joe" (2012)

"Dear Genevieve Collection: Collection 1

"Eureka": Season 4.0

"Flashdance" (1983)

"Hook" (1991)

"Hotel Rwanda" (2004)

"House of Wax" (2005)

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" (1989)

"The Inexplicable Universe with Neil deGrasse Tyson" (2013)

"Leon: The Professional" (1994)

"M*A*S*H": Season 11

"Nanny McPhee" (2005)

"The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear" (1991)

"Nine to Five...

Two-time Oscar winner Adam was the first production designer to receive a knighthood.

Sir Ken Adam, the two-time Oscar winning production designer known for his work on James Bond films of the 1960s and 70s, died Thursday [10 March] at his home in London.

In addition to his work on Bond films including Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, Adam was highly regarded for his iconic production design in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove. Director Steven Spielberg described the film’s ‘War Room’ as the best film set ever built.

He was also known for designing the original car for 1968 musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [pictured below].

Adam won his first Oscar in 1976 for his work on Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, and his second in 1995 for Nicholas Hytner’s The Madness Of King George. He received three additional nominations for Around The World In 80 Days, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Addams Family Values.

Adam was born...

Oscar winning production designer Ken Adam died today in London at the age of 95 according to The BBC.

Adam is most famous for creating the iconic and sprawling lairs of the supervillains who populated the Sean Connery and Roger Moore-era James Bond films. His designs included the Crab Key complex in "Dr. No," the Fort Knox interiors on "Goldfinger," the volcano lair of "You Only Live Twice," Stromberg's supertanker and Atlantis sets in "The Spy Who Loved Me," and Drax's space station in "Moonraker". He also did the production design on "Thunderball" and "Diamonds Are Forever".

Adams' work extended well beyond the Bond franchise though, such as two films in the anti-Bond Harry Palmer film series with Michael Caine - "The Ipcress File" and "Funeral in Berlin". He was a favorite of Stanley Kubrick following his design of the famous war room for "Dr. Strangelove". He was offered "2001" but turned it down,...

Billy Wilder directed Sunset Blvd. with Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett movies Below is a list of movies on which Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder worked together as screenwriters, including efforts for which they did not receive screen credit. The Wilder-Brackett screenwriting partnership lasted from 1938 to 1949. During that time, they shared two Academy Awards for their work on The Lost Weekend (1945) and, with D.M. Marshman Jr., Sunset Blvd. (1950). More detailed information further below. Post-split years Billy Wilder would later join forces with screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond in movies such as the classic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959), the Best Picture Oscar winner The Apartment (1960), and One Two Three (1961), notable as James Cagney's last film (until a brief comeback in Milos Forman's Ragtime two decades later). Although some of these movies were quite well received, Wilder's later efforts – which also included The Seven Year Itch...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

Of the 114 titles eligible for best original score at the 87th Academy Awards, five of French composer Alexandre Desplat’s scores have made the list: Godzilla, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Monuments Men and Unbroken. The final nominees will be announced Jan. 15.

Desplat has become one of the most prolific composers in Hollywood since his first Hollywood film score for 2003’s Girl With a Pearl Earring, and he has received six Oscar nominations in eight years. His first nomination came for 2006’s The Queen and was followed by 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, 2010’s The King’s Speech, 2012’s Argo and 2013’s Philomena. If he is nominated again this year — for one or more of his scores — he will have upwards of seven nominations in nine years, yet Desplat has never won. He joins five other...