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The McManus Brothers’ Redux Redux tinkers with narrative fire. Time loops and parallel universes have bested countless indie filmmakers. For every Blood Punch, +1, or Dead End, there are double the negative examples—a fate that Redux Redux avoids. Kevin and Matthew chase their salty and suspenseful festival darling, The Block Island Sound, with a science fiction revenge thriller that throttles tension into fifth gear. It’s thoughtfully conceptualized on a modest budget, depicts temporal jumps without visual hokiness, and delivers a gutsy morality tale that drips with blood-soaked intrigue.

The duo’s sister Michaela McManus stars as Irene Kelly, a grieving mother with fantastical technology that allows her to kill her daughter’s murderer over and over. Irene’s mission is to rid every universe of Jeremy Holm’s predatory serial killer (Neville). She transports from existence to existence without much differentiation—this isn’t a Rick and Morty episode...

HGTV’s hit renovation competition, Rock the Block, is back for a new season on Monday, April 14th, at 9 p.m. Et/Pt. This season features a twist: two veteran teams will face off against two rookie teams in a battle for renovation supremacy. Here’s the Lowdown: Host Ty Pennington returns to oversee the action as four […]

Rock the Block Returns with Veteran vs. Rookie Showdown on April 14...

Exclusive: Australia’s Wtfn is relaunching its management arm as Radar Talent.

The Melbourne-based operation was previously named Empire Talent and debuts in its new guise with a roster of newly-signed international stars including former WWE wrestler Maven Huffman and Dr Michael Says, the Scottish-born TikTok star Dr. Michael Mrozinski, who is known for debunking wellness myths.

Australian talent includes Real Housewives of Sydney’s Dr Kate Adams; The Block stars Rachel and Ryan Carr; Steve Van Aperen, co-host of Seven Network’s The Hunters; and YouTuber Mathew McKenna.

Radar Talent will sit within Australian producer Wtfn’s digital business, Radar, which has just had its second birthday. Radar manages more than 30 digital channels, including those for Wtfn’s unscripted series such as Bondi Vet and third-party series shows including The Dog Whisperer, and the plan is to integrate the units to push talent forwards.

Kristen Mahar will be lead agent at Radar Talent,...

XYZ Films and Blue Finch Films have come on to represent North America and international rights, respectively, to the sci-fi horror thriller Redux Redux ahead of its world premiere in the Midnighter section at SXSW in March.

Hailing from brothers Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus, who were writers on Cobra Kai and co-directed The Block Island Sound and Funeral Kings, the story stars their sister Michaela McManus as Irene Kelly, who travels through parallel universes to kill her daughter’s murderer over and over again. As she grows addicted to revenge, the process begins to jeopardise her own humanity.

The...

XYZ Films and Blue Finch Films have come on to represent North America and international rights, respectively, to the sci-fi horror thriller Redux Redux ahead of its world premiere in the Midnighter section at SXSW in March.

Hailing from brothers Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus, who were writers on Cobra Kai and co-directed The Block Island Sound and Funeral Kings, the story stars their sister Michaela McManus as Irene Kelly, who travels through parallel universes to kill her daughter’s murderer over and over again. As she grows addicted to revenge, the process begins to jeopardise her own humanity.

The...

Hollywood is heading up the mountain for what’s possibly one of the final Sundance Film Festivals to be held in the posh ski-resort town of Park City. It’s a place that’s hosted its fair share of all-night bidding wars, where films ranging from “Reservoir Dogs” and “Napoleon Dynamite” to “Brooklyn” and “The Big Sick” landed massive deals before going on to box office, and in some cases, Oscar glory. But it’s also been the setting of some frenzied sales that didn’t always pay off, like “Happy, Texas”or “Blinded by the Light.”

Sundance has already announced the festival is considering decamping Utah for Ohio or Colorado in 2027. Even if it does stay in the state, the focus of the festival will shift to Salt Lake City, which is better positioned than Park City to host the crowds that the celebration of movies attracts. So will...

The Berlinale’s Co-Production Market has selected 35 feature projects for its 2025 edition, including new works from Tatiana Huezo, Kirsten Tan and Stephan Komandarev.

The 35 projects hail from 27 countries, and will participate in the market to find financing and production partners. The Berlinale has also programmed its Forum Special and Forum Expanded strands.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Salvadoran-Mexican filmmaker Huezo will participate with her new project Galerna, produced by Mexico’s Pimienta Films. Huezo’s first fiction feature Prayers For The Stolenwon a special mention in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2021, and was Mexico’s entry for the international feature Oscar.

Science-fiction horrors usually evoke campy drive-throughs showing B-movie popcorn flicks or fast-paced thrillers with xenomorphs, body snatchers, and spaceships that accidentally go to Hell. Kevin McManus and Matthew McNaus’ 2020 The Block Island Sound takes a different approach to alien abductions. Rather than focusing on the aliens, The Block Island Sound is interested in the psychological horror of being stalked by an extraterrestrial force. Tracking one family’s experience, the effect of the aliens communicating with humans presents itself as neural damage or hereditary mental illness. The family’s patriarch, Tom (Neville Archambault), and his son, Harry (Chris Sheffield), are the two members of the family most sensitive to communication, while Harry's sister Audry (Michaela McManus) believes them to be suffering from alcoholic blackouts or an illness. The Block Island Sound uses this unusual depiction of alien contact to create a slow-burn, trippy horror movie primarily concerned with unnerving its audience...

If there’s one thing to be said about the 2024 U.S. Presidential elections, it’s that the political event has become more of a media circus than it should be. While Donald Trump and Kamala Harris go at each other with full force in the minutes counting down to Election Day, celebrities like Jennifer Lopez have made it a priority to endorse either Harris or Trump at rallies on the campaign trail.

Jennifer Lopez at Kamala Harris’s Las Vegas rally [Credit: YouTube/The Guardian]

Meanwhile, more A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Taylor Swift, and even Beyoncé have put the whole weight of their support behind the Democratic party nominee Kamala Harris. But that may not necessarily be a good thing for the potential future President as these high-profile A-listers have also been implicated due to their alleged association with the disgraced rapper P. Diddy.

As the Bad Boy CEO...

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

The Real Ghostbusters Figures from Mondo

Mondo has launched a line of “The Real Ghostbusters” 1:12 scale action figures with Peter Venkman, Samhain, and Slimer.

Venkman stands 6.5″ and comes with two heads (neutral and serious), two pairs of hands (gloved and ungloved), proton pack with particle thrower wand, attachable particle stream, ghost trap, and swappable trap cartridge with mini Samhain.

Samhain stands 8.5″ and comes with three heads and four hands. Slimer stands 3.5″.

Priced at $202, the exclusive, timed edition set is available until November 26 and is expected to ship in May 2025.

Incubus 4K Uhd from Arrow

Incubus will be released on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on January 14 via Arrow Video. The 1966 folk horror film has...

Donnie Wahlberg is deeply grateful for Blue Bloods. The New Kids on the Block singer takes his final bow (or is it?) as Danny Reagan in Blue Bloods‘ final season, now airing on Fridays on CBS, alongside his costars Tom Selleck, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, and more. Wahlberg stopped by the TV Insider office to look through TV Guide Magazine’s new Blue Bloods special issue, our farewell to the long-running procedural. The actor gets emotional while flipping through the issue in the video interview above, reflecting on revering TV Guide Magazine as a kid. “There are moments in life when something happens that just kind of puts your life into perspective, not just your work or your career,” Wahlberg says. “This final episode of Blue Bloods — and this! I remember going into grocery stores with my mom as a little kid and seeing the TV Guide right there at...

Sunday night’s episode of The Block revealed growing tension between the teams, particularly after Maddy and Charlotte’s past in house flipping came to light. Haydn’s wife, Chelsea, discovered videos of the sisters flipping houses, which they had kept hidden from most of the contestants. Though they had told Mimi weeks prior, the news seemed forgotten. […]

Recap: Maddy and Charlotte Win Bathroom Judging Amid Tensions on The Block...

Ben Affleck was never encouraged to become a full-time actor despite deeply admiring the world of arts and theater. The actor’s mother wanted him to become a teacher. Either way, she allowed Ben and his brother Casey to explore the entertainment field.

But when Affleck developed a bond with Matt Damon, things began taking a serious turn. Between the ages of 8-15, Affleck starred in children’s shows produced by PBS and ABC, casting him to play roles in Wanted: A Perfect Man and Hands of a Stranger.

Ben Affleck in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) | Credits: Mutant Enemy Productions

In 1990, he graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. Between 1991 and 1995, Affleck would take on minor roles in movies, most notably Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992).

In the meantime, Affleck and Damon had something brewing between themselves, the script of Good Will Hunting. What initially was supposed to be Damon’s...

Kitchen week on The Block brings significant challenges for the contestants. On Monday night’s episode, during Domain Open for inspections, Grant expresses dissatisfaction with losing to Kristian and Mimi, believing his and Courtney’s main bedroom should have won. The rest of the teams recognize Maddy and Charlotte, who replaced Jesse and Paige, as strong competitors […]

The Block: Kitchen Week Brings Challenges and Tensions...

The latest episode of “The Block” aired on Sunday night on Channel 9, featuring a dramatic shift in the competition. Sydney sisters Maddy and Charlotte, the youngest contestants, entered the fray, replacing Jesse and Paige. Their introduction brought an immediate challenge: a frantic search for tradespeople, a task that threatened to disrupt their progress. Kylie’s […]

The Block Main Bedroom Week: Scores Revealed as New Team Battles for Glory...

On Saturday September 14 2024, National Geographic broadcasts To Catch a Smuggler: Secret Stash!

New Drug on the Block Season 7 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “To Catch a Smuggler: Secret Stash,” titled “New Drug on the Block,” promises to bring viewers an exciting look into the world of drug enforcement. Airing on National Geographic, this enhanced episode focuses on the team at Homeland Security Investigations (Hsi) in Miami as they tackle a new and mysterious drug that has recently emerged in the area.

In “New Drug on the Block,” the Hsi Miami team faces the challenges of identifying and understanding this unknown substance. The episode will showcase the methods and techniques used by the agents as they work to uncover the origins of the drug and the smuggling operations behind it. The stakes are high, as the team races against time to prevent this new drug from spreading further into the community.

Monday night’s episode of The Block took an emotional turn as Western Australian couple Jesse and Paige decided to leave the show. Their departure will have a significant impact on the competition, with their fellow contestants reacting strongly to the news and marking a turning point in the series. The events leading up to their […]

The Block: Contestants in Turmoil as Jesse and Paige Make Shocking Exit...

The contestants on Channel 9’s The Block’s reached a critical point with their guest bedroom reveals on Sunday night. The episode started with a light-hearted celebration of Grant’s 30th birthday at a mini-golf party, but the atmosphere soon shifted to the strained relationship between Jesse and Paige, who were notably absent. Ricky and Haydn, fresh […]

The Block Sunday Night Recap: Guest Bedroom Reveals and Relationship Tensions...

With only 27 hours left until the first guest bedroom reveals on The Block, contestants are racing to finish. After camping in Tent City for two weeks, most Blockheads are making good progress, but some struggle with style choices and design issues. Paige and her fiancé, Jesse, are unsure of their style, while Kylie and […]

The Block Recap: First Guest Bedrooms Reveals & Winners...

Donnie Wahlberg's hopeful comments suggest a potential Blue Bloods spin-off, despite the series set to end in December 2024. The uncertainty surrounding the cast's future may leave Blue Bloods' ending feeling inconclusive for viewers seeking closure. The series finale should provide a definitive conclusion unless there is a guaranteed future or spin-off planned to avoid false hope.

Donnie Wahlberg's recent Blue Bloods update suggests that there's hope the series will keep going, which makes it even harder to bear that the series is set to end in December 2024. The Tom Selleck-led cop and family drama is one of CBS' most popular series, but CBS confirmed its intention to cancel Blue Bloods when it unveiled its 2024-25 schedule, which includes only the final eight episodes of Blue Bloods airing before the series is replaced with Swat.

The cast and crew have all expressed a desire to continue working on Blue Bloods,...

“The Block” is back for its 20th season, this time setting its sights on the picturesque coastal locale of Phillip Island. Five dynamic couples from across Australia will relocate to the island to renovate luxury family holiday homes designed by architect Julian Brenchley. The season introduces a fresh cast of contestants, each bringing their unique […]

The Block Returns After The Olympics for Its 20th Season on Phillip Island...

2024 is just not the year for Jennifer Lopez. With a canceled tour, multiple controversies, and buzzing rumors of the crumbling of her fourth marriage, things are not looking good for Jenny From The Block. She was once the trailblazer whose iconic green Versace dress was single-handedly responsible for the creation of Google Images. Cut to the present, where J.Lo is at the receiving end of endless criticism and has been labeled a tone-deaf diva. In the middle of all this drama, a reality TV show could be the next best course of action to facilitate some much-needed damage control on her tainted image. A closer look at her day-to-day life would give fans a magnified view of the more human side of yesteryears Latina pop sensation to forklift her off her sinking reputation. Showcasing Lopezs vulnerable side could make her appear relatable and authentic amid the widespread surface-level interpretations...

Chicago Fire is having a very special guest appear on this week’s episode of the show. A member of the band New Kids on the Block will be appearing. Who is it and what role will he be playing? Keep reading to get the scoop.

New Kid On The Block To Guest Star On Chicago Fire

Fans of the boyband New Kids on the Block are excited about one of their favorite members making a guest appearance on Chicago Fire.

Joey McIntyre went to social media to share the exciting surprise. He announced that he will be on this week’s episode of the hit NBC show. Not only will Joey be appearing, but he will also be playing the role of firefighter Lorenzo from a rival fire department.

People also shared details about Joey’s debut in Season 12. The news outlet shared that Joey, 51, will be showing a fun,...

Actress Drew Barrymore recalled spending the “most chaste” evening of her life with New Kids on the Block member Jordan Knight at the peak of his fame.

The actress reminisced about what she anticipated to be “every girl’s fantasy” as she found herself in the hotel room of the New Kids on the Block singer during his pop heyday. However, the pair simply played music until the early hours of the morning before Barrymore headed home.

Speaking on her self-titled talk show to Knight’s bandmate Donnie Wahlberg and his ‘Blue Bloods’ co-star Bridget Moynahan, Barrymore shared, “I thought about a night that I remember walking through a sea of girls at a hotel on the Sunset Strip.”

She added: “And it was in the late eighties, early nineties, and I got to go into Jordan Knight’s hotel room, and it was like, literally, I was getting to...

Few celebrities can claim to excel in multiple files the way Jennifer Lopez has. A popular singer, a brilliant dancer, and a commercially successful actor, Lopez has proved that she is literally a jack of all trades. In addition, the Jenny From The Block crooner is one of the most electric performers who has set various stages on fire.

A still from On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez

But not everyone is equally convinced about the Puerto Rican artist’s talent. A former Marvel alum and The Bear star Ayo Edebiri who has been a prominent presence in the 2024 Hollywood awards season, claimed that Lopez’s singing career was bogus, and stated that she never actually sang her own songs. This accusation resurfaced around the time that Edebiri and Lopez were due to appear together on Saturday Night Live.

Why Did Ayo Edebiri Find Jennifer Lopez’s Music Career Problematic?...

Jennifer Lopez in This Is Me...Now Image: Prime Video To understand where multi-hyphenate superstar Jennifer Lopez is today, as her new film This Is Me...Now: A Love Story is about to start streaming on Prime Video, audiences need to know where she’s been. Two decades ago, Lopez suffered...

New Kids on the Block announced a 2024 reimagining of their “The Magic Summer” from 1990, with Donnie, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan & Danny set to hit the road for a 40-city tour next summer. The tour, produced by Live Nation, will feature special guests Paula Abdul and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

The 2024 tour will kick off on June 14, 2024 in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and will stop in cities including Cincinnati, Denver, Salt Lake City, Phoenix, Dallas, and Toronto, before wrapping up in Noblesville, Indiana on August 25.

The original “The Magic Summer” sold-out tour found the boy band performing in huge venues including Dodgers Stadium, Giants Stadium, and Foxboro Stadium at the height of the band’s popularity. 3+ million fans cheered on NKotB during the 1990 tour in support of their number-one album.

“The true ‘magic’ of this tour is in the music, the moments and the memories that we get to create – and recreate – with our amazing fans each night,...

The best sci-fi horror movies of the 2020s combine fantastical elements with a hint of plausibility, showcasing the evolution of these two genres over time. These movies draw on common sci-fi tropes like advanced technology and alien contact to create terrifying and suspenseful stories that resonate with new generations of viewers. From the eerie and unexplained events in a tight-knit fishing community to the psychological horror of gaslighting and abuse of power, these films explore a wide range of themes while delivering gripping and unsettling cinematic experiences.

The best sci-fi horror movies of the 2020s showcase just how far the two genres have come. As seen in the entire history of cinema, horror and sci-fi have always been a match made in hell. Whereas classic horror relies on fantastical premises, sci-fi horror films sow terror from the fringes of science, giving a small but effective hint of plausibility to even the most otherworldly nightmares.

“The Great” returns to Hulu for Season 3 on May 12. Elle Fanning portrays Catherine the Great, desperate to turn Russia into an enlightened nation, while Nicholas Hoult plays Peter III, her libertine husband. Despite marital problems, including Catherine’s attempt to murder him, Peter now claims to be in love with his wife. The show, loosely based on history, takes a snarky, sexy, and irreverent ride through 18th-century Russia. Catherine was the longest-running female ruler in the nation’s history.

Check out “The Great” Season 3 trailer:

FX’s suspense thriller “Class of ’09” streams May 10 on Hulu. A class of FBI agents at three points in time face changes in the U.S. criminal justice system, which has been altered by AI. The series takes a deep dive into the nature of justice and the choices we make.

Watch the trailer for “Class of ‘09”:

Also returning to the Disney-owned...

Jennifer Lopez in The Mother Photo: Eric Milner/Netflix The unserious blockbuster is really and truly back. While raunchy sex comedies like Jennifer Lawrence’s No Hard Feelings may be surefire signs of an impending recession, we won’t lie and pretend we’re not completely thrilled about this long overdue development.

Fuller House is a highly acclaimed sequel to the beloved 90s family-oriented sitcom Full House, and here are the seasons ranked worst to best. The show spans five seasons, each with its unique appeal, following the lives of DJ and Stephanie, the two eldest daughters of the Tanner family, who are now grown up. In a twist from the original series, DJ Tanner-Fuller moves into the Tanner house with her three sons after the tragic death of her husband, firefighter Thomas "Tommy" Fuller. Stephanie returns from her travels in London to be with her sister, and Kimmy Gibbler and her daughter Ramona move in to lend a helping hand.

The show expertly blends heartwarming moments with bittersweet hilarity, and notably more diversity than Full House, making it an enjoyable watch for all. Fuller House presents a familiar yet refreshing take on the Tanner/Fuller families, and has received an overwhelmingly...

Jenny McCarthy stands by her decision to not walk offstage in protest when Rudy Giuliani appeared on “The Masked Singer” earlier this year.

Following a poor rendition of “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Giuliani was unmasked as the Jack in the Box.

McCarthy’s fellow “Masked Singer” panellists Ken Jeong and Robin Thicke stormed off while the former attorney to former president Donald Trump chatted with host Nick Cannon.

Read More: Jenny McCarthy Reveals Why She Passed Up An Invitation To Appear In Controversial ‘Secrets Of Playboy’ Docuseries

McCarthy was asked what her immediate reaction to Giuliani’s appearance was on Wednesday’s “Watch What Happens Live”, insisting, “Like everyone that gets unmasked, I [was] completely shocked.

“Everyone is in their own wheelhouse in terms of how they handle their shock. The fact it was a political figure that was polarizing to half of the country [was] hard.

New Kids on the Block released a video for their new song “Bring Back the Time” last week that’s perhaps the most potent expression of nostalgia we’ve ever seen. It’s the past in its purest, most uncut form, like it was created in Walter White’s secret basement laboratory and injected directly into the veins of their fans.

The video, which doubles as a commercial for the group’s upcoming Mixtape Tour, features Rick Astley, Salt-n-Pepa, and En Vogue (who are all on the tour) re-creating classic...

There was a time when "hoodie" just referred to a plain old comfy sweatshirt with a built-in hood. But in the UK during the 2000s, the word became a derogatory catch-all term that conjured up images of a young, yobbish, working-class male, often seen hanging around bus shelters and shopping precincts, causing aggro and generally being intimidating. An encounter with a gang of hoodies could be a frightening experience, and people told their tales as if talking about a lucky escape from a pack of hyenas (via Slate).

Once held up by the Conservative Party as an emblem of "Broken Britain," the...

The post Attack the Block's Alien Designs Were Inspired by This '80s Arcade Game appeared first on /Film.

Exclusive: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired U.S. rights to Kyle Thomas’ drama Range Roads, along with North American rights to Dylan Reid’s semi-autobiographical film, By the Grace of…The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios will release the former title written and directed by Thomas across internet, cable and satellite platforms on December 14, unveiling the latter written and directed by Reid across the same range of platforms on December 21.

Range Roads tells the story of Frankie King (Alana Hawley Purvis), a television actor who has been estranged from her family for 20 years, returning to her hometown in rural Canada after her parents are killed in a sudden car accident. As she struggles to reconnect with her truculent brother Grayson (Joe Perry), old wounds are reopened and family secrets uncovered. Thomas and Sara Corry produced the pic, which also stars Chad Brownlee and Nicole de Boer.

Nine has unveiled dramas Underbelly: Vanishing Act and After the Verdict as part of its 2022 slate, with the network emphasising its “strong investment” in the genre at its upfronts today.

The series join Eq Media Group’s real estate docu-drama Buying Byron, ITV Studios Australia’s prison ob-doc series Australia Behind Bars, Southern Pictures and Orange Entertainment Co’s Missing Persons Investigation, and The Full Box’s Million Dollar Murders as the new titles announced for next year.

The virtual event included the cast announcement of Screentime’s Underbelly: Vanishing Act, which tells the story of Melissa Caddick, the high-roller who allegedly embezzled over $40 million before disappearing.

The series stars Kate Atkinson as Melissa Caddick, alongside Colin Friels, Tai Hara, Maya Stange, Ursula Mills, and Sophie Bloom.

Underbelly: Vanishing Act is produced by Kerrie Mainwaring and Matt Ford, who is also writing alongside Michael Miller, with Geoff Bennett directing.

Subtext...

John Boyega will be back to defend his home against aliens in a long-awaited sequel to Attack the Block. Deadline confirmed that both Boyega (through his UpperRoom Productions company) and writer/director Joe Cornish will return to produce the film, and both men seemed eager about the opportunity. Additionally, Nira Park (through her Complete Fiction production company she formed with Cornish and filmmaker Edgar Wright) and James Wilson will also return to produce Attack the Block 2. John Boyega said,

"It's been a decade since Attack the Block was released and so much has changed since then. I'm excited to see this heightened story return to the streets of London. Moses has remained one of my favorite characters to play and bringing him back is a huge honor."

As for Joe Cornish, who will write and direct the sequel like he did with the original, he said, "I'm thrilled we're officially...

Channel 4 format “The Write Offs” is getting local versions in Australia and Denmark, marking the first international deals for the Banijay-sold format.

Originally created by Shine TV for Channel 4, “The Write Offs” finds former “Great British Bake Off” host Sandi Toksvig helping a group of adults improve their literacy. Metronome Productions will make the local Danish version for DR1, while Sbs has ordered its own version of the show, which will be called “Lost for Words.” Endemol Shine Australia will produce.

Like the U.K. version, the Australian and Danish productions offer a group of adults the chance to change their lives forever. In the show, they receive one-to-one tuition and face entertaining tasks to take them out of their comfort zones in order to improve their reading and writing.

Lucas Green, global head of content operations at Banijay, said: “‘The Write Offs’ is a heart-warming format which uses...

Where Mickey Keating’s filmography has often lent itself to easily identifiable cinematic inspirations, Offseason carries more of a literary mood while fitting into a persistent coastal horror trend of late. Somewhere between the McManus’ The Block Island Sound, Andy Collier and Tor Mian’s Sacrifice, and an even quieter Silent Hill is this Florida-shot call to […]

The post ‘Offseason’ Review: An Aquatic Horror Nightmare Worth the Plunge [SXSW 2021] appeared first on /Film.

Clockwise from top right: Sue Maslin, Nick Murray, Jub Clerc and Daley Pearson.

When this writer re-joined If in 2017, Netflix had an estimated 2.8 million subscribers, Stan had about 800,000 customers and the highest-rating entertainment show, The Block finale, attracted 2.5 million viewers in the five mainland capitals.

Today the streaming giant has approximately 5.8 million subs, Stan has 2.2 million and, major sporting events aside, broadcasters can only dream about that kind of reach.

Tim Worner was CEO of Seven West Media, Michelle Guthrie was the ABC’s not widely admired MD, Michael Ebeid drove Sbs and Paul Anderson ran Network 10 – all gone.

Among the heads of the screen agencies were Screen Queensland’s Tracey Vieira, Create Nsw’s Michael Brealey, Film Victoria’s Jenni Tosi, the South Australian Film Corporation’s Annabelle Sheehan and Screenwest’s Ian Booth.

Mitch Fifield was the largely ineffectual Minister for Communications and the Arts, Chris Hilton steered Essential Media,...

‘Lego Masters’ Hamish Blake and Ryan McNaught.

With ITV Studios Australia’s The Voice moving to the Seven Network next year, that has freed up a chunk of money and gaps in the schedule for the Nine Network, which is investing in new reality brands.

At its virtual Upfront today the broadcaster revealed it’s bringing back Warner Bros. Television’s Celebrity Apprentice Australia after six years and it has commissioned Endemol Shine Australia’s Beauty and the Geek, a format which ran for six seasons on the Seven Network until 2014.

Among the other new shows, in-house concept Beach House Escape will follow 10 talented individuals as they compete to give an old home on the beachfront a complete makeover; the production company is yet to be determined.

Based on a Discovery US format, Celebrity Iou Australia will see A-listers work to a tight deadline to transform living spaces, production company to be appointed.

Marshall Heald, Adrian Swift, Tanya Denning Orman, Dan Monaghan and Michael Carrington.

The future of the TV landscape remains difficult to predict, but commercial networks expect to feel the impact of coronavirus on commissioning budgets well into 2021, and many broadcasters are concerned about scheduling into next year and extra costs associated with restarting production.

These are some of the insights from a panel of commissioners speaking on the most recent session of Running Free Live, a webinar hosted by Denise Eriksen and presented by Acmi, Film Victoria and Media Mentors Australia.

Nine Network head of production and development Adrian Swift said revenues were “fundamentally” down at all three commercial networks.

“The reality is it’s completely screwed us for this financial year, and probably most of next financial year,” Swift said.

“That changes what you can commission. Our commissioning budgets have been completely revised as a result of what’s happened.

"Your machine is censoring my work!" Blue Finch Films in the UK has debuted an official UK trailer for an indie sci-fi horror fantasy film titled Peripheral, from SFX artist & filmmaker Paul Hyett. This guy knows what he's doing! He has worked on make-up & SFX for Attack the Block, The Woman in Black, Centurion, The Eagle, and many other films. Peripheral follows a young author who's struggling with a difficult second novel. While dealing with a crazed stalker and a junkie ex-boyfriend, Bobbi’s publisher convinces her to use new smart editing software. But soon the A.I. programme starts manipulating her work to suit its nefarious ends leaving Bobbi to suspect she’s being controlled by sinister forces. Fighting possible hallucinations as her deadline looms, is she just a hapless cog in a monstrous machine? Hannah Arterton stars with Tom Conti, Elliot James Langridge, Rosie Day, and Jenny Seagrove.

ITV has set the cast for its Isolation Stories, a series of short lockdown dramas executive produced by Jeff Pope, the BAFTA-winning and Oscar-nominated producer behind Stan & Ollie.

Each of the four, 15-minute episodes in the ITV Studios-produced series is written and performed by established British drama talent and reflect on how the coronavirus pandemic has changed lives in a thought-provoking and humorous way.

BAFTA-winning actress Sheridan Smith (Cilla) will star in the first episode, Mel, in which she plays a heavily pregnant woman who will have to give birth without the married father of her child, who is self-isolating with his family. It is written...

Hamish Turner.

Nine’s program director Hamish Turner explains how he’s programming through the pandemic, outlines gains in audiences, a greater focus on news and the likely impact on 2021 schedules.

Q: Given the spike in at-home viewing during this lockdown, how have Nine’s primary and digital channels and 9Now benefited?

A: There’s been an increase in familiar brands and shows that can be co-viewed. Daytime has also seen big rises, primarily due to the increase in the available audience.

Q: Apart from Nine News, A Current Affair and the Today Show, which shows have shown significant gains in audiences?

A: Interesting pockets of growth. The 21 days of Bond on Gem attracted big audiences as have shows like the UK game show Tipping Point on Nine while on 9Now The Arrangement has been doing a great job.

Q: Married at First Sight gave you a great start to the year; overall,...

The Seven Network’s ‘Extreme Weddings.’

The Seven, Nine and 10 networks insist they are not stockpiling Australian dramas and other local programming despite the suspension of the local content quotas for the rest of this year.

Last week Screen Producers Australia CEO Matt Deaner slammed the government’s decision to suspend the quotas for drama, documentary and children’s programming as a very blunt tool which has the “potential of crippling an industry already on its knees.”

Deaner said: “With no incentive for the broadcasters to release hundreds of hours of already delivered but not yet broadcast children’s, drama and documentary content, it harms the Australian public’s ability to access the content which is sitting gathering dust on shelves.”

The Nine Network, which has seen shows including The Voice Australia, The Block and Endemol Shine Australia’s drama Rdfs suspend or delay production, rejects that notion.

“We are...

Jennifer Lopez may be Jenny from the Block, but she's also Jenny from all your favorite romantic comedies. And, thankfully, you'll be able to experience some of her best roles through E!'s J.Lo movie marathon this weekend. So, give your best friends a ring over FaceTime or snuggle up with your significant other, because you won't want to leave the couch Saturday or Sunday! The viewing party will kick off with the Lopez and Jane Fonda-led comedy Monster-in-Law, airing today at 12:00 p.m. The film stars the "Let's Get Loud" artist as newly-engaged Charlotte who can't seem to get soon-to-be mother-in-law Viola (Fonda)'s blessing. Next up, at 2:15 p.m., you can catch one of...

The cast of ‘Wentworth.’

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the suspension or postponement of 119 screen productions, resulting in a loss to the production sector of $471 million.

That’s according to Screen Producers Australia’s updated screen production survey on the impact of Covid-19.

In addition to the production disruption, the survey found $20 million in export revenue has been lost, bringing the total to nearly $100 million.

Among the productions that have been shut down or delayed are Neighbours, Wakefield, Australia’s Got Talent, Back to the Rafters, Wentworth, Five Bedrooms, Harrow, The Voice Australia, The Bureau of Magical Things, Why Are You Like This?, Yes, Chef!, Rfds, The Real Housewives of Melbourne, Little J & Big Cuz, The Block and The Bachelor Australia.

That represents $232 million in actual spending and $239 million in estimates. The survey did not cover stalled Hollywood productions including Marvel Studio’s Shang-Chi & the Legend of the Ten Rings...

Over the past three decades, Naughty By Nature’s Vin Rock has heard everyone from toddlers in South Africa to basketball arenas packed with New Kids on the Block fans perform his group’s 1992 anthem “Hip Hop Hooray.” But even he was surprised last month when he saw Rita Wilson post an Instagram video of her take on the song while she and her husband, Tom Hanks, recovered in quarantine from Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

“I was like, ‘Oh my goodness!’ after someone inboxed me with the link,...

We’re had to wait seven weeks to see the return of one of the best vocalists on season 3 of the “The Masked Singer”: the Turtle. He, along with the other Top 3 in Group A — the Kangaroo and the White Tiger — made the cut back on February 12. On the special two-hour edition of “The Masked Singer” on April 1, they competed along with the best of Group B and Group C.

Each is hoping to win enough votes from the studio audience to stay in the competition and make it to the quarter-finals. Of this Super 9, the Turtle is the one who has most confounded the four judges. We are sure that they are wrong with their guesses that the Turtle is either Jenny McCarthy‘s husband Donnie Wahlberg or his New Kids on the Block bandmate Joey McIntyre.

We’ve rewatched all three of his performance and don’t...