News

Cineverse has picked up North American rights to French-Belgian body horror movie Else, and the festival favorite is set to arrive on streaming this summer.

Else will be released on Fandor and all digital platforms on July 8, 2025.

The feature debut by French director Thibault Emin follows “a romance blossoming between an introvert and a confident woman. However, their relationship is threatened when a strange epidemic causes the infected to merge with their surroundings, trapping the couple in a shapeshifting nightmare. Would you merge for love?”

The acquisition arrives on the heels of a successful festival run, including stops at TIFF and Fantastic Fest. Joe Lipsett wrote in his 4-skull TIFF review, “Writer/director Thibault Emin uses body horror in a completely different way in Else, which concerns a pandemic virus that causes humans to “merge” to their surroundings. The body horror is often horrifying, but when filtered through the romanticism...

While Sundance didn’t have a plethora of the late night bidding wars we used to see in the good old days of the festival, the weirdness of the Los Angeles fires and the advent of the online platform have kept sales very slow. Over 60 films came into this year’s Sundance looking for homes. As we previously reported, the hope was that even more distributors could get creative.

Below we’ll update all the acquisitions following the festival festival as they arrive. Here are the movies we think could sell big.

“Oh, Hi!”

Section: Premieres

Buyer: Sony Pictures Classics

Director: Sophie Brooks

Cast: Molly Gordon, Logan Lerman, Geraldine Viswanathan, John Reynolds

Buzz: SPC nabbed the worldwide rights to director Sophie Brooks’ sophomore feature, a big commitment to the Molly Gordon-led indie comedy that took some time to sell and find the right home. “Oh, Hi!” stars Gordon as Iris...

Devil May Cry - Trailer Debut: The Gates of Hell Open April 3rd: "In this animated adaptation of the popular Capcom game and from the vision of Adi Shankar, sinister forces are at play to open the portal between the human and demon realms. In the middle of it all is Dante, an orphaned demon-hunter-for-hire, unaware that the fate of both worlds hangs around his neck."

Showrunner: Adi Shankar Animation Studio: Studio Mir Cast: Johnny Yong Bosch (Dante), Scout Taylor-Compton (Mary), Hoon Lee (White Rabbit), Kevin Conroy (VP Baines), Chris Coppola (Enzo)

Learn more at: www.netflix.com/devilmaycry

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Shudder Announces Acquisition of Home Invasion Horror Push: "Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, today announced the acquisition of Push, from the filmmakers of acclaimed indie thriller The Boy Behind The Door and Djinn, David Charbonier and Justin Powell. The highly anticipated film,...

Dead Lover has become the inaugural feature acquisition from a new distribution venture between Cartuna and Dweck Productions, marking one of the first deals from the 2025 SXSW Film Festival.

The film from writer-director Grace Glowicki was purchased by Cartuna x Dweck out of SXSW, where the movie made its Texas debut on March 9 after its world premiere at Sundance’s Midnight section earlier this year. Glowicki stars alongside Ben Petrie, Leah Doz and Lowen Morrow in the Frankenstein-themed project that blends elements of horror, comedy and romance.

Dead Lover stars Glowicki as a gravedigger whose whirlwind affair with her perfect match (Petrie) ends tragically when he drowns at sea. This leads her to attempt to resurrect him through cutting-edge scientific experiments.

Cartuna x Dweck is planning a theatrical release, although details about a release date have not yet been shared. Glowicki (Tito) helmed the feature from a script she co-wrote with Petrie.

New York indies Cartuna and Dweck Productions have acquired North American rights for Grace Glowicki’s thriller Dead Lover as the first acquisition of their newly announced joint distribution venture Cartuna x Dweck.

The partners acquired the film out of SXSW where the Canadian thriller made its Texas debut after world premiering at Sundance in the Midnight Section.

In between times, the film has also played the International Film Festival Rotterdam and Göteborg Film Festival, with forthcoming stops at the Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans and the Los Angeles Festival of Movies.

Glowicki also stars in Dead Lover as a lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses. When she finally meets her dream man (Ben Petrie), their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.

Dead Lover...

“It’s alive!” — as the mad scientists would say. Grace Glowicki’s grotesque, 16mm-shot romance “Dead Lover” has been acquired for North American distribution by Cartuna and Dweck Productions, operating under a new venture Cartuna x Dweck. The deal comes after the film’s selection at SXSW, following a premiere at Sundance in January.

“We firmly believe that we are at the early stages of a historic creative movement,” says James Belfer, founder and CEO of Cartuna. “Inventive, boundary-pushing storytellers need more distribution support now than ever. This collective of producers has opted to take matters into our own hands and it’s our sincere hope that it will inspire others to do the same.”

“What Grace and her collaborators have dug up from their creative depths is like nothing I’ve ever seen before and we are so honored to be a part of this infinitely imaginative team,” said Hannah Dweck,...

Cartuna x Dweck, the new distribution venture formed by Cartuna and Dweck Productions, has acquired North American rights to Grace Glowicki’s Dead Lover following screenings at SXSW.

This is the first all-rights buy from the new company, which plans a theatrical release and aims to champion bold visions and emerging voices. The deal comes less than two weeks after Oscar-winningAnora director Sean Baker issued a clarion call urging support of independent filmmaking and the theatre-going experience.

Cartuna launched a distribution arm last year and found success with the Sitges and Morbido slapstick fantasy comedy Hundreds Of Beavers, which grossed...

In the first sale of the SXSW Film Festival, Grace Glowicki’s Midnight movie “Dead Lover” has found theatrical distribution from a new boutique distribution venture, Cartuna x Dweck, which is a partnership between physical media company Cartuna and Dweck Productions, the company behind films such as “Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point” and “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.”

Cartuna x Dweck acquired North American rights to “Dead Lover” following its Texas premiere at SXSW, and this will be the first release from the new venture, as the two companies have quietly been building an initial slate of films to be announced later this year. No release date for “Dead Lover” was announced.

“Dead Lover” is Glowicki’s sophomore feature, which she wrote, directed, and starred in, and it made its premiere in the Midnight section of this year’s Sundance film Festival. The film is a campy,...

"They said it would never happen," the account for "Hundreds of Beavers" posted on March 4, 2025. "Long live indie cinema! $150,000 budget and a dream." When Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews debuted their slapstick comedy about an applejack salesman facing off against hundreds (possibly thousands) of beavers in an attempt to win the heart of a pelt merchant's daughter at Fantastic Fest in 2022, it's doubtful that anyone involved could have predicted the Cinderella story that was in their future. Despite the overwhelming praise that came out of the fest (including Matt Donato's glowing review for /Film), Cheslik and Tews rejected the distribution offers that came their way and instead chose the path of self-distribution. They bet on themselves, and it paid off handsomely.

"Hundreds of Beavers" was shot in rural Wisconsin and Michigan across 12 weeks in the bitter, north-Midwest winter. As anyone who hears the phrase "lake effect" and...

One of the most unlikely box-office heroes now has the milestone to back it up. “Hundreds of Beavers,” the black-and-white, silent, slapstick comedy released into theaters without formal distribution, surpassed $1 million at the box office on a budget of just $150,000.

“They said it would never happen,” the film tweeted on Tuesday. “Long live indie cinema! $150,000 budget and a dream. And thank you to the fans who got us here. Finally, thank you to our theatrical booker who has been independently booking indie cinema for decades. She’s a real soldier of cinema. We got really lucky we found her.”

“Back when we hit $100,000 at the Box Office we were told that one hundred thousand is the new one million for truly independent releases, so we popped the champagne,” “Hundreds of Beavers” lead producer Kurt Ravenwood said in a statement to IndieWire. “At this point we are so out of champagne...

Evergreen Podcasts (Evergreen) has officially launched EvergreenNOW!, a Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television (Fast) channel that brings together independent films, award-winning podcasts, and live sports. As the official streaming home of Arena Football One (AF1), EvergreenNOW!™ delivers a curated, high-quality viewing experience - completely free to consumers.

Fast channels continue to reshape digital content consumption with expected global users reaching 1.1 billion by 2027. As audiences increasingly turn to free, ad-supported content, EvergreenNOW!™ stands out as a dynamic, story-driven platform offering premium entertainment without the paywall.

A major highlight of the launch is the exclusive partnership with AF1, making it the go-to destination for live-streamed games and on-demand access. The platform also features over 240 curated films, including Runner, A Man Called Ove, Remembering Tina Turner, Badland, and Hundreds of Beavers, along with a rich lineup of award-winning podcasts. All content is hand-selected by Evergreen’s Video Producer, Sarah Willgrube, ensuring an engaging viewing experience.

Western cinema sorely needs more inventive comedies. Nowadays, studios have largely abandoned clever gags in favor of unbridled improv, denying skilled performers any semblance of thoughtful direction. Filmmakers like Judd Apatow and Adam Mckay don't believe in creative blocking or intelligent framing. Instead, they let the camera run and hope something funny happens. That's not to say the genre is dead, but it's in desperate need of CPR. Thankfully, Mike Cheslik's Hundreds of Beavers have taken up the call. Providing ingenious sight gags on a wildly imaginative scale, this scrappy independent flick puts mainstream studio comedies to utter shame.

Shot over twelve weeks throughout the Midwest, Hundreds of Beavers is a labor of love from an incredibly talented team. Co-writer Ryland Tews stars as Jean Kayak, a drunken applejack salesman trying to reinvent himself as the world's greatest fur trapper. In doing so, he sparks a slapstick war against Nature itself.

Prepare your Vcr for absurdity, because Hundreds of Beavers is coming to VHS from Witter Entertainment.

Presented by Broke Horror Fan (that’s me!), the hit 2022 slapstick comedy is directed by Mike Cheslik from a script he co-wrote Ryland Brickson Cole Tews.

Tews also stars with Olivia Graves, Wes Tank, Doug Mancheski, Luis Rico, and a multitude of woodland creatures played by actors in full-sized mascot costumes.

Hundreds of Beavers arrives on VHS in a slipcase featuring artwork by Kyle Hilton for $28. A yellow VHS variant, limited to 100, is also available for $34.

Each tape includes VFX breakdowns after the film as a special feature.

Officially licensed from Shr and approved by director Mike Cheslik, the film is presented in letterbox format per the filmmakers’ wish.

Set in the early 1800s, the black-and-white movie follows Jean Kayak, a drunken applejack salesman who finds himself stranded in a surreal winter landscape with...

There’s an old gold vault just outside of Washington, D.C., that holds the kind of (national) treasures most film nerds can only dream of seeing. But when a film screens in the Library of Congress’s theater, the filmmakers can get a tour of the Library’s vault. This is how “Hundreds of Beavers” producer Kurt Ravenwood ended up getting to see one of the original prints of Edwin Stanton Porter’s early silent Western, “The Great Train Robbery.”

Now, director Mike Cheslik’s murder-fueled homage to everything from silent slapstick to Nintendo side-scroller platform games has a film print of its own. As with most things “Hundreds of Beavers” related, what started as a joke among the filmmaking team ended up being followed through on quite seriously.

“We made this film very cheaply and part of the way we made it cheaply was by having the entire workflow be [in] 1080p.

Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced winners for the 2025 Dorian Awards, and it’s great news for genre fare like The Substance, Wicked, and I Saw the TV Glow.

Mubi’s body-horror movie The Substance won a leading five trophies, including Film of the Year, Demi Moore (Best Lead Performance), and Coralie Fargeat (Best Director), while Universal’s film adaptation of the Wicked musical claimed honors for Ariana Grande (Best Supporting Performance), Cynthia Erivo (Lgbtqia+ Film Trailblazer), and Jonathan Bailey (Rising Star).

Other movies with multiple victories were I Saw the TV Glow (LGBTQ Film of the Year and Jane Schoenbrun for LGBTQ Screenplay of the Year), Will & Harper (Documentary of the Year and LGBTQ Documentary of the Year), and Challengers (Justin Kuritzkes for Screenplay of the Year and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for Film Music of the Year).

In addition to her acting triumph, Moore...

The biggest challenge for indie filmmakers is getting your movie funded — unless it’s figuring out what to do with it once it’s done. Neither is easy, but two companies that specialize in each are teaming up to make both a whole lot easier.

Crowdfunding platform Seed&Spark and community distribution platform Kinema have launched “The Independence Partnership” which provides filmmakers with a suite of tools and resources to move from getting your movie funded to finding an audience.

Creators who crowdfund their movie through Seed&Spark gain access — in some cases, with fees waived — to Kinema’s distribution platform, which provides creative control over distribution rights, screenings, and virtual events. Kinema tools also will be integrated into Seed&Spark educational workshops and digital distribution materials.

Those who fund programs on Seed&Spark get a dedicated Kinema account manager and custom distribution consultations. Fees are waived for filmmakers with over 500 followers or over 1,000 campaign backers.

The hot new path to indie film distribution may not run through New York or Los Angeles.

Indie filmmakers are taking their films on the road. Often, they target specific regions like the American Midwest or South. These traveling tours may feature live components — a Q&a, a concert, or a performance. Controlling your content sounds very 21st-century, but it’s literally one of the oldest tricks in the book.

Vaudeville-like tours have been a part of the film industry since the 1920s, when a project’s physical filmstock would travel from city to city in order to screen for a limited number of weeks. Movies were paired with overtures and intermissions rather than short subjects or promotional trailers. Some of these elements persisted through the 1960s, but the road shows of today are not an exercise in nostalgia or in corporate strategy; they’re a roadmap to success.

“For...

PG-13 movies are a sweet spot for movie-going audiences and producers alike. Striking a balance between mature themes and kid-friendly entertainment makes movies fun for the whole family. They often also line movie producers' pockets with all the money they can dream of. When it comes to comedy films, PG-13 movies offer everything from slapstick humor to witty one-liners and everything in between.

Just don't expect much in the way of graphic language, sexuality, and nudity. While that might make some audiences concerned that the jokes in these films have been watered down, the truth is that constraint is sometimes the mother of all invention. From Will Ferrell's Anchormanto Mike Myers' Austin Powers, these zany PG-13 comedies hold up.

Updated on February 1, 2025, by Robert Vaux: ThePG-13 rating tends to strike the right balance for comedy movies, where they can take real risks while remaining accessible to a wider audience.

While the likes of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and Steven Lisberger’s Tron have examined the thrills and fears of humanity’s relationship with screens since the early ‘80s, there’s been a recent, renewed interest as the number of screens in one’s life has ever-expanded. At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Jane Schoebruen explored identity-forming bonds with media and the eventual curdling nostalgia with I Saw the TV Glow. This year, Obex finds Albert Birney following Strawberry Mansion with another inventive and lo-fi adventure, but one that finds the director honing in with a more satisfying focus. Even though our main character spends every waking moment in front of a screen, this is no damning screed but an earnest, even poignant look at how entertainment can provide a sense of comfort for the most lonely souls.

It’s 1987 in Baltimore, an unlucky year in which 17-year cicadas...

With a 215-minute runtime and an epic scope, The Brutalist is arriving in UK cinemas with an interval built-in. But why will the fad never catch on?

Two-and-a-half hours into Killers Of The Flower Moon, it would be difficult to begrudge anyone begging Martin Scorsese for a quick loo break. The man’s 82 years old, for a start – surely he could appreciate the need for a call of nature?

And yet, when a handful of cinemas took it upon themselves to shoehorn a little break into the 206-minute epic in 2023, editor Thelma Schoonmaker called it “a violation”. Brady Corbet’s 215-minute The Brutalist, in UK cinemas this weekend, has earned its share of publicity for building in a nice little break after its first chapter. Cue the reignition of a debate which pops up every couple of years in filmic circles; should longer films bring back the half-time interval?

Though,...

Quick Links The Technical Category Snubs Are Embarrassing for the Academy The 2025 Best Picture Nominations

Ever since I was a teenager, I have woken up early to see the Oscar nominations announced. Every other day, it's nearly impossible to get me out of bed before 7 am, but the day the Academy Award nominations are announced, I'm like a kid on Christmas morning. So, on Jan. 23, 2025, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter, away to my phone flew like a flash to what nominations had just come to pass.

I had already prepared myself that some movies that I personally would have nominated were not going to happen, since that would require members of the Academy to remember movies that came out before October and also see movies that maybe didn't have the budget to campaign and send screeners and would require them to sign in to...

From All Of Us Strangers to Hundreds Of Beavers to The Zone Of Interest, last year was by all metrics a banger of a year for cinema — just check out our 20 Best Movies of 2024 if you need any further reminder. And as your friendly neighbourhood Empire has pored over what the next twelve months has in store on screens both big and small, we've found a lot of movies that you simply must see in 2025. 133 to be exact.

In a year that's set to see James Gunn's Dcu take flight with Superman; Ethan Hunt take on quite possibly his last impossible mission; Yelena Belova return to our screens in Dark Av— er, Thunderbolts*; James Cameron whisk us away to Pandora in Avatar: Fire And Ash; Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan scare us up good and proper with Sinners; and new movies fly at us from seasoned auteurs, buzzy new filmmakers,...

2024 was an incredible year for cinema, as not even the aftermath of the SAG-AFTRA strikes was enough to put a dent in the incredible output of many great directors. Although the slate of summer blockbusters may have been relatively weaker when compared to other years, the year certainly did not have any shortage of massive successes within the action genre. “Deadpool & Wolverine” broke records to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, and sequels such as “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” and “Gladiator II” managed to honor their predecessors. There was certainly a great variety to the action movies that were successful in 2024; although “The Shadow Strays” was an intense epic that featured groundbreaking stunt work, Guy Ritchie’s World War II adventure “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” felt like a deliberate throwback to a classical era of filmmaking.

Scale and scope are all relative,...

The Tcl Chinese Theatre will host benefit showings of two films: “Superman” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” with 100% of the ticket sales and concession sales to be donated to L.A. wildfire victim relief. Both featured films will play in the Tcl Theatre’s main auditorium.

Richard Donner’s “Superman,” which originally premiered at the Chinese Theatre in 1978, will screen Saturday, Jan. 25 at 3:30 pm, presented in 4k. Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” will screen Saturday, Jan. 25 at 7pm, presented in IMAX.

Proceeds from both screenings will benefit the American Red Cross, Los Angeles Fire Foundation, Los Angeles Firemen’s Relief Association and the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers foundation. Tickets run $25 and available for pre-booking via the Tcl Chinese Theatre website.

Friday, Jan. 17 Lost Charles Burnett Film, ‘The Annihilation of Fish,’ To Release in Theaters for First Time

“The Annihilation of Fish,” directed by Charles Burnett, has...

I Saw the TV Glow and The Substance led the way at the Dorian Film Award nominations on Friday. The awards are selected by Galeca — the Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics comprises more than 500 critics, journalists, and media figures. Winners will be announced on Feb. 13.

SEE2025 Independent Spirit Awards nominations: Full list led by ‘Anora,’ ‘I Saw the TV Glow’

From director Jane Schoenbrun, A24’s I Saw the TV Glow tells the eerie story of two friends (Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine) whose realities start to collapse around their favorite television series. The movie received a leading nine Dorian nominations including Film of the Year, LGBTQ Film of the Year, and Director of the Year, while both Smith and Lundy-Paine were nominated for their performances. The indie feature, hailed as a groundbreaking trans allegory, has mostly flown under the radar this awards season, though it did score three Gotham...

The votes are in for the 2025 Dorian Awards nominations. Galeca: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics said today that Neon’s Anora, Amazon MGM Studios’ Challengers, A24’s I Saw the TV Glow, Orion Pictures/Amazon MGM’s Nickel Boys and Mubi’s The Substance will battle it out for Film of the Year.

Vying for LGBTQ Film of the Year are Challengers, I Saw the TV Glow, Netflix’s Emilia Peréz and A24’s Love Lies Bleeding and Queer.

Nominees for the all-gender Film Performance of the Year prize are Golden Globe winners Adrien Brody (The Brutalist) and Demi Moore (The Substance) along with Daniel Craig (Queer), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Peréz), Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Nicole Kidman (Babygirl), Mikey Madison (Anora) and Justice Smith (I Saw the TV Glow).

Jane Schoenbrun’s thought-provoking horror tale I Saw the TV Glow leads...

Annually, Rotten Tomatoes hands out Golden Tomatoes to the best-reviewed movies and TV series from the past year.

Previous winners include Oppenheimer, The Last of Us, Top Gun: Maverick, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and House of the Dragon, but Dune: Part Two has reigned supreme this time.

Shōgun largely dominated the TV side, though there were noteworthy wins for both The Penguin and X-Men '97. Unfortunately, neither Deadpool & Wolverine nor Agatha All Along have received any love, even in the newly created "Fan Favorite Movies" category.

The winners and nominees are determined by an adjusted score formula, which is a weighted ranking that compensates for the variation in the number of reviews when comparing movies or TV shows within a specified time frame.

Critics have always had something of a complicated relationship with comic book adaptations, particularly in recent years. However, between this and other televised award shows, it's clear...

Letterboxd, the cinephile social platform that’s become perhaps the most effective tool for independent film in a landscape where moviegoers are hard to reach, hit 17 million members in 2024.

That’s a big jump from 11.4 million at the end of 2023 and 1.8 million in 2020, according to the New Zealand-based platform’s 2024 Year In Review published today.

A new member joins Letterboxd every five seconds, it said of the hub for film fans to discover, discuss and share favorites. In 2024, those members wrote 96.4 million reviews, marked 701 million films watched, and made 6.8 million lists, a popular feature.

Perhaps most importantly, it’s a now a key driver of the indie box office with distributors frequently citing Letterboxd when opening a film theatrically. A24 gave a shout-out to the platform for the strong limited debut of Brady Corbet’s Golden Globe winning The Brutalist in December.

Letterboxd, launched in 2012 by Auckland tech entrepreneurs Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow,...

For 17 million film fans on Letterboxd, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two was the spice of 2024.

The popular movie-reviewing app has published its annual year in review, a ranking of the most popular and beloved films of the past 12 months, as determined by user ratings. Villeneuve’s sci-fi blockbuster topped the charts as the highest-rated, most popular, and most obsessively rewatched film of 2024. Unsurprisingly, the Canadian helmer was also Letterboxd’s most-watched director of the year. The site’s users ranked the sequel to Villeneuve’s 2021 Dune: Part One even higher than the original, giving Dune: Part 2 a 4.4 out of 5 average rating, compared to 3.9 for the first movie.

“I’m gonna sleep well tonight,” said director Denis Villeneuve in response to the news. “The idea that there’s a community, the Letterboxd community of film lovers, cinephiles, that are sharing film lists and their love and their passion, it...

To the endless frustration of this writer, Dune: Part Two's Oscar chances seem as D.O.A. as the trees on Arrakis. The film didn't win a single Golden Globe, and Denis Villeneuve was just shut out of the DGA Award nominations entirely. At least it's getting some deserved shine over at Letterboxd.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Childhood of a Leader (Brady Corbet)

While Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist slowly starts to expand its theater count, you may be looking to catch up on his directorial debut. Tommaso Tocci said out of its Venice premiere in 2015, ” Before you picture a regular tale of domestic discomfort, however, it should be mentioned that Corbet is aiming for something far sharper and gutsier. Tightly packed in its 35mm, 1.66:1 aspect ratio, every element of the film is dialed up to eleven, with the aforementioned soundtrack making the person next to me curl up in the seat with her ears covered by the film’s unhinged final scene, or Dp Lol Crawley’s dark setups making the most of the crumbling chateau’s creepy atmosphere.

Sorry, Hollywood. Indie studios have officially taken over the poster game. Of the 25 films listed below, I can count the number of legacy studios on one hand (even that’s putting Focus Features under the Universal umbrella). Yes, some of that has to do with a strike-enforced lack of releases beyond true tentpoles and their glossy, Photoshopped marketing campaigns, but it’s also a continued reluctance to take risks in all facets of production. I get that they don’t need to––those types of films sell themselves––but a bit of ingenuity still increases public perception.

Some of it probably has to do with the strain of contractual obligations as far as billing and credits go with blockbuster fare (why most of the best posters are teasers rather than finals), but there are ways around such stipulations if you’re willing to push the envelope. We know the designers...

There were a lot of funny movies in 2024, but most of them weren't what we'd call 'comedies.' There were funny action movies, funny dramas, funny horror movies, funny thrillers, and so on, but not many straight-up comedies. One film, however, embraced the very roots of comedy, combining silent slapstick with very early animated comedy to great effect, and it's now free to watch basically everywhere. That would be the absurdist, utterly wacky delight, Hundreds of Beavers.

Hundreds of Beavers is co-written by its lead star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, who gives one of the best physical performances in years. It's a good thing he was a co-writer, because most actors wouldn't do what he's subjected to in director Mike Cheslik's film. The movie is a microbudget passion project made for $150,000 over the course of many years; actual filming took place in the subzero winters of Wisconsin and Michigan...

Here is the complete list of winners and nominees from the Florida Film Critics Circle: Best Picture: The Beast [nominees: Anora, The Brutalist, Conclave, Hundreds of Beavers] Best Director: Bertrand Bonello (The Beast) [nominees:  Sean Baker (Anora), Luca Guadagnino (Challengers), Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light), RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)] Best Actor: Kieran Culkin

The post The Beast Named Best Picture by Florida Film Critics Circle appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

One of my favorite things about the end of the year is the "year in review" movie mashups that come out, reminding us of all of the great movies that came out in the previous year. They're incredible little odes to cinema, and the "movie trailer mashups" by YouTuber Sleepy Skunk are easily among the very best. This year is no exception, as their "2024 Movie Trailer Mashup" (see above) is another beautifully edited, wonderful reminder of the magic of the movies.

2024 has been an incredible year for movies, with a wide range of stories for all kinds of audiences. Indeed, there's a little something for everyone, and the trailer mashup reflects that. There are artistic critical darlings like "The Brutalist" right alongside mainstream popcorn fare like "Deadpool & Wolverine" and family films like "Sonic the Hedgehog 3," as well as exploitation horror like "The Substance," all set to music and...

From Paul and Feyd’s climactic knife fight in Dune: Part Two to Lucius and Macrinus’ climactic swordfight in Gladiator II, the movies of 2024 have brought a bunch of great fight scenes. A good fight scene can really invigorate an audience. It’s a chance for stunt choreographers to get creative, and it can be a crowd-pleasing moment when a noble hero violently triumphs over a despicable villain.

2024 has delivered both gruesome, blood-soaked fight scenes, like the nightclub sequence in Monkey Man, and hilarious slapstick set-pieces, like the cartoonish saloon brawl in Hundreds of Beavers. There were even great fight scenes in non-action movies, like the body horror opus The Substance. From the final showdown in Boy Kills World to the multiversal mayhem of Deadpool & Wolverine, 2024’s movies have been jam-packed with well-staged fight scenes.

Boy & Mina Vs. The Shaman Boy Kills World

Boy Kills World has some of the...

From the saloon brawl in Hundreds of Beavers to the post-credits punchline of Deadpool & Wolverine, there were a ton of hilarious moments to behold on the big screen in the movies of 2024. Comedic moments in movies create a special kind of magic, because laughter is a communal experience. A funny performance or one-liner will get a laugh in any context, but the laughter is especially infectious when it’s shared with a crowd at a movie theater.

The comedies of 2024 brought some unforgettable scenes, like the gym fight in Jackpot! or the debut of Baby Betelgeuse in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Deadpool & Wolverine brought back a long-forgotten superhero for a hilariously anticlimactic cameo appearance and Inside Out 2 introduced a bunch of wacky new emotions. Even the winner of the Palme d’Or — which usually goes to drab, serious Oscar bait — provided some of the biggest laughs of the year.

Nostalgia Comes...

Something that The A.V. Club noted in our breakdown of the best films of 2024 is that, as the industry becomes more polarized between massive too-big-to-fail franchise films and all-but-ignored indies, seeking out good movies is more and more becoming the audience’s responsibility. In a corporate landscape where intellectual property...

"Everything comes from you. And everything is you. The one & only not to forget - you are one." It's time! Happy Holidays movie geeks! It's time for a look back at the year in movies. Our good friend the "Sleepy Skunk" has released his annual end-of-the-year recap video - the 2024 Movie Trailer Mashup - editing together footage from every major movie trailer released throughout 2024 to make you smile and laugh and cry and feel good about how amazing movies are. Louis, who makes this mashup every year, puts so much focus into making sure this mashup plays perfectly. I'm happy to see him include clips from little films like Hundreds of Beavers, Widow Clicquot, Memoir of a Snail, Omni Loop, The Brutalist, Didi, and many more. Still no one can ever make a better mashup than Sleepy Skunk - still the greatest. Click play below & enjoy. // Continue Reading ›...

What films cracked you up in 2024? Or, more specifically, what moments in movies made you laugh the hardest? Sometimes, a film can be generally meh but contains a scene or a performance so funny that you can forgive its shortcomings. Likewise, a serious drama might include something so darkly hilarious that’s shockingly effective precisely because it’s completely unexpected. And, of course, there are the unfortunate unintentional laughs that can happen when a woefully inept movie falls flat on its face. Hey, we’ll take our laughs however we can.

Below, I’ve counted down the 34 funniest moments in movies this year. Maybe the films themselves weren’t amazing — although some of them certainly were — but they had something so clever or amusing that I never forgot it. Also, I left room for a few instances in which internet users enhanced a movie’s comedic impact by introducing a...

In the grand scheme of things, 2024 might end up being remembered as a transitional year that bridged the drama-filled 2023 (which brought both the box office extravaganza of “Barbenheimer” and the SAG and WGA strikes that shut down Hollywood) and the fruitful 2025 (which boasts a slate so packed that many in the industry have spent the year mumbling “survive ‘till 25”). But even if 2024 offered moviegoers a slate that was affected by the previous year’s production shutdowns, there’s still plenty to celebrate as we wind down the year and gear up for the awards race.

To parse the year’s best cinema, IndieWire assembled an elite group of critics around the world who spent the year watching everything that premiered. IndieWire’s annual critics survey featured 177 voters who cover film and television for publications including The New Yorker, Variety, the LA Times, BBC Culture, Sight & Sound, Cineaste, Der Spiegel,...

After a year of big changes, The A.V. Club’s roster of film critics has added a slew of new faces and brought back some old favorites. That state of flux—a net positive to be sure—means our final voting roster of regulars is a little smaller than in years past.

Often, the first taste of an upcoming film or television show is by way of its poster. For some films, such as “Jaws” or “The Silence of the Lambs,” a poster can in fact become entwined with its legacy and pave the way for an entire brand to be built. Making a strong first impression with an audience can be tantamount to a project’s success, but how does one capture the essence of an entire story in just one image?

For some, like Nathan Silver’s religious dramedy “Between the Temples,” the key is all in the title. Highlighting the film’s central duo, played by Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, the two posters for the film feature the heads of both stars mirrored against one another. In this simple, yet unique positioning, the offbeat nature of the entire film, as well as the connection between the two main characters is communicated effortlessly,...

There's no such thing as a "bad" year for movies -- not if you watch enough of them. That statement might come across like a hackneyed cliché every time film fans trot that out and lob it into the ether like a self-righteous grenade ... but it's still true!

Okay, we won't put lipstick on a pig: the state of the industry these days feels, to put a fine point on it, dire. Blockbusters have bullied out smaller and more original offerings on their way to ruling the roost, though even that's no guarantee anymore with the way budgets keep skyrocketing. Streaming platforms have become a last, desperate haven for passion projects from our best and brightest filmmakers ... but that only makes it easier for the Powers That Be to take movies like Clint Eastwood's "Juror #2" and sentence them to a digital death penalty. And unless they're dealing with names like Christopher Nolan,...

"What makes you think I want someone to be in love with me?" The very first movie trailer mashup 2024 retrospective video has dropped today, created by the London-based movie lover Jed Wagman of Wagman Studios. His "2024 Movie Mashup" video is out and ready to watch! Click play for a voyage across time and space and cinema - taking us back through the past year. Nearly 7 minutes of footage from nearly every big and small movie in 2024 cut together into an emotional, triumphant, endearing video. These are always so satisfying to watch! Wagman's 2024 movie mashup is also a reminder that if you haven't seen these films yet, you really need to watch them: Kneecap, Sasquatch Sunset (really!), Hundreds of Beavers, It's What's Inside (on Netflix), His Three Daughters (also on Netflix), A Real Pain, Memoir of a Snail, Hit Man (also on Netflix), The Outrun, Sing Sing + many others. Jed adds:...

The indie success story of the year is for a movie you maybe haven’t heard of: “Hundreds of Beavers.”

Director Mike Cheslik’s film is a black-and-white, silent, slapstick comedy about a fur trapper and his battles with literally hundreds of dudes dressed in beaver costumes. And despite no formal distribution and a shoestring budget, it has developed a passionate cult following as one of the more talked about films of 2024.

But if you’ve missed one of “Hundreds of Beavers'” vaudeville theatrical screenings/beaver-wrestling matches, you haven’t lost out on the chance to become part of “The Beaverati.”

“Hundreds of Beavers” is set to be released as a special edition Blu-ray via the indie film distributor Cartuna and Ocn Distribution, IndieWire can reveal exclusively. The film’s Blu-ray edition will go live for pre-orders on December 3 and start shipping in time for the holidays. It will be...

"Stop arguing. Get together. Laugh your tail off." Guess who's back?!

Judging by entertainment news, the term "animated" might seem like an industry euphemism for "tax write-off." And despite Warner Bros. being the most destructive thing to happen to cartoons since the eraser, its new feature film, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, is getting love from critics. The first reviews are in for the Looney Tunes movie that managed to escape Warner Bros.' clutches and land a theatrical release (more on that in a moment), and the response from critics so far is overwhelmingly positive.

Directed by Peter Browngardt, The Day the Earth Blew Up sends Daffy Duck and Porky Pig on an adventure to save the planet from an alien invasion.

In his review for Variety, critic Peter Debruge writes:

Day is funnier than any film the studio has put out since The Lego Movie 2 and a rare chance to see Porky and...

To celebrate the release of Things Will Be Different, which will be available on Blu-ray and Digital Download from 18th November, we are giving a away 2 Blu-Rays to 2 lucky winners!

After evading police following a robbery, two estranged siblings lay low at an abandoned farmhouse. But when a mysterious force emerges, it makes the pair question everything about themselves – and each other.

Lightbulb Film Distribution is thrilled to share the news that their dark and twisted sci-fi horror, Things Will Be Different, will be available on Blu-ray and Digital Download from 18th November.

A brand new feature from Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, the minds behind Marvel’s Loki, Something In The Dirt and The Endless and the distributor who released Hundreds of Beavers into the UK, comes a bold, new, time-travel thriller, starring Adam David Thompson and Riley Dandy.

Blu-ray Special Features:

Audio Commentary with the Director and Producer

Hidden...

The Fithian Group, the theatrical consulting firm co-founded by former National Association of Theater Owners CEO John Fithian with Jackie Brenneman and Patrick Corcoran, will launch a new database in 2025 that will serve as a tool for independent filmmakers and movie theater owners to connect for potential distribution deals without the involvement of a major studio.

The database, called Attend, was developed alongside movie theater technology company Vista Group and will be launched as a pilot program in the United States and Australia in early 2025. The database will allow filmmakers to upload information and materials, including trailers, about their films onto the database for theater owners to view.

Exhibitors can search the database, while Attend also recommends movies to exhibitors based on the preferences of their individual theaters and moviegoers. The platform also can assist exhibitors and filmmakers in the logistics of the self-distribution process.

The program has drawn the...