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Updated, May 11: The recipients in the remaining 18 of this year’s 33 categories at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were announced May 11 at a New York ceremony hosted by Ross Matthews. They included Red, White & Royal Blue, The Last Of Us, Heartstopper, The Jennifer Hudson Show, Rustin and Las Culturistas.

Jennifer Hudson received the Excellence in Media Award, introduced by Laverne Cox. Orville Peck received the Vito Russo Award, presented by Jennifer Lawrence. The evening featured live performances by Loren Allred and Scott Hoying, of Pentatonix.

The March 14 Los Angeles ceremony, hosted by Wayne Brady, revealed the first 16 category winners spanning film, TV, music, theater, podcasts, video games, comic books and journalism. The winners list includes Ted Lasso, Yellowjackets, RuPaul’s Drag Race and Reneé Rapp.

In addition, Oprah Winfrey received the Vanguard Award, introduced by longtime friends Chilli Pepper and Paolo Presta. Niecy Nash-Betts received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award,...

The explanatory text that opens “The Wanting Mare,” Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s ambitious, epoch-spanning directing debut, informs us that in the city of Whithren, citizens are desperate to escape by booking passage on the once-a-year transport ship that carries wild horses to the wintry promised land of Levithen. These words, a fantasist’s delight, only barely set the table for what’s to come, a visually enthralling but elliptical and withholding quasi post-apocalyptic drama about three generations of Whithren women who carry with them the burdensome memories of “the world before.”

At times, Bateman’s film feels overstuffed and underexplored, an inconclusive rhetorical argument between a director and his lofty intentions. Otherwise, the Baltimore native announces himself as a top-shelf world-builder-on-a-budget, a painter of luscious digital dreamscapes (and hellscapes).

Indeed, Bateman’s effects are the star here, casting such a vivid and immersive spell that they stoke a strong desire to explore Whithren,...

It’s been ages since anyone built a complex sci-fi universe fillled with far-reaching mythology and imaginative threats. “The Wanting Mare” tries to get there by starting with a small dose. Writer-director Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s ambitious debut Seeing as most sci-fi franchises on movies and TV stem from existing IP, “The Wanting Mare” scores points on ingenuity alone as the most intriguing form of world-building in the genre since “The Matrix,” though it begs for a bigger picture. Frustrating and immersive in equal doses, Bateman’s slow-burn drama seems content to show us around, with the occasional conflict as an added bonus.

For that reason, some may shrug it off as a half-baked bore. In truth, “The Wanting Mare” begs for deeper readings, and the most fascinating aspect of the movie comes from the way this visibly low-budget enterprise gets away with suggesting so much more than it puts onscreen.

Like the Sirens of Greek mythology dolled up in Wes Anderson-esque Girl Scout uniforms, the four young women in Karen Cinorre’s stylish yet surface-level feminist fantasy “Mayday” lure off-screen soldiers to their deaths with invented pleas for help. “They can’t resist a lady in distress,” says Marsha (Mia Goth), coaching newcomer Ana (Grace Van Patten) on how to craft an enticing Sos call. “They like their girls softer, with less authority.”

Debuting at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, “Mayday” joins recent female-revenge fantasies “Promising Young Woman” and “Assassination Nation” in imagining a scenario where women are mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore. Like those films, it’s simultaneously exhilarating and confused, in part because the patriarchy is too big a Goliath to be crippled by a single strident slingshot, no matter how accurate its aim. Still, it’s a thrill to see young filmmakers raging against the status quo,...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and monthly guide to What’s on Streaming.

With more than 530 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineWhat's New on Netflix'snl' Sets John Krasinski, Dan Levy and Regina King as HostsRatings: Charmed Goes Low,...

Jim Gaffigan has closed a deal to play Captain Hook’s loyal sidekick Mr. Smee in Disney’s live-action “Peter Pan & Wendy,” TheWrap has learned exclusively.

Ever Anderson is set to play Wendy while Alexander Molony will play Peter Pan, the famous boy who wouldn’t grow up. “Pete’s Dragon” director David Lowery is directing “Peter Pan & Wendy” from a script he co-wrote with Toby Halbrooks. Jim Whitaker is producing. Jude Law is playing Captain Hook, while “Black-ish” star Yara Shahidi will be spreading pixie dust in the movie, as she’s set to play Tinker Bell. Alyssa Wapanatâhk will play Tiger Lily.

Smee is Captain Hook’s loyal first mate, but due to his bubbling personality, he doesn’t always offer much help. He was previously voiced by Bill Thompson in the original film. In “Hook,” Smee was played by Bob Hoskins.

Disney adapted J.M. Barrie’s...

One of the most highly anticipated undistributed films of 2020 was Nicholas Ashe Bateman’s feature debut “The Wanting Mare,” a VFX-heavy fantasy that spans generations and the cosmos. After festival play and online buzz, the film has finally found a home thanks to Gravitas Ventures, which will launch “Wanting Mare” in available theaters and on VOD February 5. Watch the trailer below.

Director Bateman previously worked behind the scenes contributing digital effects to films like “Free Solo” and “Wendy,” and most recently served as a VFX supervisor on David Lowery’s upcoming “The Green Knight.” Now,he’s taking the directing reins. Bateman also wrote “The Wanting Mare,” billed as the first in a series of films set on the fictional planet of Anmaere.

IndieWire’s Eric Kohn had high praise for the film on IndieWire’s list of the best undistributed films of 2020:

Director Nicholas Ashe’s haunting sci-fi...

Lee Breuer, a cofounder of New York’s groundbreaking experimental theater company Mabou Mines and writer of Broadway’s Pulitzer Prize finalist The Gospel at Colonus, died Sunday at his home in New York. He was 83.

His death was announced by Mabou Mines. A cause was not specified, but the company noted that Breuer died peacefully at home surrounded by loved ones.

A seminal figure in American avant-garde theater, Breuer, along with composer Philip Glass, director JoAnne Akalaitis, and actors Ruth Maleczech and David Warrilow, cofounded Mabou Mines in 1970. The theater company, named after the town in Nova Scotia where Glass and Akalaitis had a home, would become a force in New York’s downtown experimental arts scene that continues to this day.

The company’s best-known work, The Gospel at Colonus, was a gospel music adaptation of Sophocles’s tragedy Oedipus at Colonus set in a Black Pentecostal church.

"Give me a moment, would you, friend? I've never been on trial for my thoughts before." As crazy as 2020 has been, the truth is - we still had plenty of great movies to enjoy. Friend of the site Dino Kos (also known as @WolvieCBM) has spent the last few months editing his year-in-review video. His presentation is called Cinema 2020 - A Year in Film and it's available to watch now. There's clips from a bunch of films in this that I don't know if people might've even forgotten about from this year: Wendy, Love & Monsters, Over the Moon, Capone, Vivarium, Tesla. Plus all our other favorites: The Trial of the Chicago 7, First Cow, Soul, Mank, Wonder Woman 1984, Palm Springs, Da 5 Bloods, Bill & Ted Face the Music, Tenet, Possessor, Minari, Sound of Metal, The Invisible Man, Birds of Prey, and I'm Thinking of Ending Things. As always, these...

It’s funny to think that streaming services like Netflix didn’t bother creating posters for their original work a few years back knowing they’d never have to contend with competition at the local multiplex. Slowly but surely they began doing a few here or there before steadily growing to the point where it seemed they enjoyed being able to embrace out-of-the-box designs for the same reasons they avoided the process altogether.

Now we’re at the end of a calendar to forget that saw a majority of theaters shuttered for nine straight months to make it so streamers became king. Big studios pushed titles out of 2020 altogether, small studios went virtual, and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, et al. watched subscriptions soar. Suddenly their digital multiplex formed the playground for cinematic competition and the continued creativity of poster design found itself working at the top of its game just like always.

With Christmas just around the corner, this weekend is stacked full of great new releases on the various major streaming services. Netflix, Disney Plus, HBO Max, Hulu and Prime Video are offering up a bunch of fresh content over the next few days – Friday, December 18th to Sunday the 20th – which should entertain subscribers no matter what they’re in the mood for.

For starters, Netflix has nine new movies and TV shows being added today. This includes a bunch of Jeopardy!, which is the perfect way to honor much-missed host Alex Trebek, while there’s also season 2 of Norwegian series Home for Christmas, South Korean horror show Sweet Home and Pauly Shore comedy movie Guest House. The highlight of the day’s haul, though, is undoubtedly Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, the Viola Davis vehicle that features Chadwick Boseman’s final performance and is expected to make a sweep...

The upcoming origin story, Cruella, will debut on Disney+ on May 26, 2021. The announcement was made during the recent Disney Investors Day event, which featured updates and revelations aplenty regarding a whole host of Disney projects.

While no footage was released for Cruella, the release plan is a much-needed update on the status of the movie. Despite production wrapping at the end of last year, not much has really been revealed about the live-action origin story. Centered around 101 Dalmatians villain Cruella de Vil, Cruella will chart the early life of the legendary Disney villain. Set in the punk rock scene of 1970s London, the movie will follow young fashion designer Cruella de Vil, who becomes obsessed with dogs' skins, especially dalmatians, until she eventually becomes the ruthless and terrifying legend that we all love to hate.

Cruella is directed by I, Tonya's Craig Gillespie from a screenplay written by Aline Brosh McKenna...

“The Wendy Williams Show” is heading into reruns next week “to allow Wendy to travel and be with her family at this time” after the host announced her mother’s death on the show earlier this week, a spokesperson told TheWrap.

On Monday, Williams revealed that her mother Shirley Williams had “passed away many, many, many, many weeks ago.” That is the reason for the hiatus, the spokesperson said.

The show will return with original episodes on Monday, Jan. 4,” the spokesperson for “The Wendy Williams Show” said in a statement on Friday. “Debmar-Mercury extends its deepest condolences to Wendy and her family.”

“You know how during corona, during the world– topsy-turvy, people starving, people out of jobs? Just everybody’s live is something new? And you know how you lose track of the day and date and the time?” Williams said on Monday’s episode. “All I know is that...

Disney has again overhauled its theatrical release calendar, shifting around dates for “Black Panther 2,” “Captain Marvel 2,” “Thor: Love and Thunder” and numerous other titles.

The studio announced some of these changes at Thursday’s investor day, a four-hour-long presentation that charted Disney’s streaming and theatrical plans for the foreseeable future.

From Marvel, “Thor: Love and Thunder” will open on May 6, 2022, instead of Feb. 11. That delay bumps the “Black Panther” sequel — originally set for May 6, 2022 — to July 8, 2022. In turn, “Captain Marvel 2” was pushed off that July date and was moved to Nov. 11, 2022.

Disney also added “Free Guy” and “Death on the Nile” back to its schedule. “Free Guy,” a sci-fi comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, is slated for May 21, 2021, and Kenneth Branagh’s murder mystery follow-up “Death on the Nile” is expected to bow on Sept. 17, 2021.

During its investor day, Disney essentially reaffirmed its commitment to the big screen and...

Updated: Shares of Disney popped more than 13% Friday, as investors cheered the Mouse House’s monster-size content flex outlined at its 2020 investor day for stepped-up push to accelerate its global direct-to-consumer streaming offensive.

As of 1 p.m. Et, Disney stock was trading at an all-time high of $175.89 (up 13.7%), pushing the company’s market cap to over $318 billion. Netflix shares were down about 1% at midday, presumably on fears of greater competition from Disney.

Amid the torrent of Disney’s news yesterday, it announced 105 movies and TV series, 80% of which are pegged for its direct-to-consumer streaming outlets; said Disney Plus reached nearly 87 million global paid customers as of Dec. 2; massively raised sub forecasts for Disney Plus to 230 million-260 million by September 2024; and outlined the 2021 rollout of Star, a new international entertainment service akin to Hulu that will be integrated with Disney Plus outside the U.S.

Disney also announced price increases for Disney Plus: In the U.

In a flood of announcements from Disney's annual investor day presentation, the studio also dropped that Peter Pan and Wendy is officially in pre-production and will skip theaters to premier exclusively on Disney+. When Disney rolled Mulan direct to streaming, it was positioned as an extraordinary measure, meant to help offset the effects on the studio of the ongoing global health crisis. Mulan was available only to subscribers and, only then, after those same subscribers paid an additional premium viewing fee. Disney indicated that Peter and Wendy would also see its release follow the same model.

Peter Pan & Wendy will be flying to #DisneyPlus. David Lowery directs an amazing cast including @YaraShahidi in the role of Tinker Bell and Jude Law as Captain Hook.

The term of the day was “forward-looking,” and during the Walt Disney Company’s Thursday afternoon Investor Day 2020 webcast, that look ahead still included plenty of fresh Marvel-centric content. Marvel head Kevin Feige, who concluded the massive four-hour call, used his time to tout the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which still includes a variety of theatrically released films and a slew of upcoming series headed straight to Disney+.

The biggest news: Marvel is working on an long-hyped and brand-new “Fantastic Four” feature film, set to be directed by “Spider-Man” filmmaker Jon Watts. Additionally, while Feige announced that “Black Panther II” is still in the works from filmmaker Ryan Coogler, they will not be recasting the title role played by the late, beloved Chadwick Boseman. The film has moved slightly, from a planned May 6, 2022 release date to July 8, 2022.

While many expected that Feige might announce that one or more...

Make sure to mark December 10th in your calendars, as this will reportedly be the day that Disney unveils several new big and small screen projects across the Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar brands. According to these reports, the studio giant is planning to "announce new projects from Marvel, Lucasfilm and Pixar that will encompass TV as well as theatrical," at its Disney Investor Day, with the announcement designed to signal, not only a future return to normalcy, but also to show that they have far from abandoned theatrical releases.

Following Warner Bros.' recent, controversial announcement that all next year's releases will debut in both theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max simultaneously, and with Disney themselves having also released several high-profile movies to Disney+ amid the ongoing global situation, the studio are reportedly hoping to ease worried minds and clearly convey that they have far from abandoned...

This year’s Wendy might be a film from another far off destination in Hawaii. Jude Weng‘s directorial debut Finding Ohana is a film about treasures beyond pots of gold and is populated by non-actor talents who look the part (and specifically the two leads in Kea Peahu and Alex Aiono) this also includes Marc Evan Jackson, Lindsay Watson, Owen Vaccaro, Kelly Hu, Ke Huy Quan, Ricky Garcia, Ryan Higa, Mapuana Makia, Brad Kalilimoku, X Mayo, and Kyndra Sanchez. Netflix grabbed the family action-adventure film and not too long after, Weng saw Amazon Studios attached themselves to what will be her sophomore film – Shelly.…...

For some, the prospect of former Pixar director Brenda Chapman (“Brave”) making her live-action debut will make “Come Away” seem exciting. For others, it’s the film’s literary conceit that appeals: What if Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan had been siblings? And then there’s the casting of Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo as the parents, which suggests certain possibilities in terms of how the story might deal with certain seldom-examined social dynamics within its period setting — possibilities that internet trolls have targeted with racist comments.

Alas, “Come Away” squanders all of these opportunities on a ponderous family drama that even Netflix (where concept is everything and quality is often beside the point) wasn’t interested in acquiring when it premiered at Sundance back in January. At the festival, the film was overshadowed by “Wendy,” but even in the straight-to-streaming doldrums of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s hard...

The Karlovy Vary film festival has cancelled its four-day Iff 54½ film event, which was due to take place November 18-21, due to new coronavirus restrictions in the Czech Republic.

Organizers had assembled a variety of titles hailing from Sundance, Berlin, Venice and San Sebastian, in addition to some with the Cannes 2020 label. Movies were set to include Apples, Nomadland, The Nest, Wendy, First Cow, Quo Vadis, Aida? and Notturno.

Kviff’s president Jiří Bartoška said today: “When we announced the special Karlovy Vary Iff 54½, we were met with much enthusiastic feedback. People were looking forward to visiting Karlovy Vary to see new films at an unusual time of year. We are sorry that we will not be able to hold this event either, but in this era, people’s health absolutely takes priority, and I am sure that everyone sees it the same way. We would like to thank the Czech Ministry of Culture,...

The Masked Singer‘s Lips are unsealed.

This week’s edition of Fox’s singing competition saw the introduction — and departure! — of the singer wearing a giant pair of ruby red smackers. And when her mask was removed, Lips was revealed to be syndicated talk-show host Wendy Williams. (Read a full recap.)

More from TVLineThe Masked Singer Recap: I Don't Think You're Ready For This JellyfishThe Masked Dancer: Craig Robinson to Host Fox's Masked Singer SpinoffWendy Williams Addresses Odd On-Screen Behavior in New Interview, Calls Out 'People Looking to Pick and Poke'

While we discussed viewers’ concerns about her recent behavior on her eponymous show,...

Spoiler Alert: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 4, Episode 5 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Oct. 28 on Fox.

How You doin’, Wendy Williams? The talk show host, who’s the latest celebrity to be revealed on Fox’s “The Masked Singer,” tells Variety she’s relieved to finally share her secret with the world. (Scroll down to watch her unmasking.)

“My staff and crew at the ‘Wendy’ show here in New York, none of them know that I do this, so they won’t find out until it goes on today,” she said. “Look I’m the hot topics lady. I like knowing stuff. And now I know more about the ‘Masked Singer.’ I can’t wait to tell everybody what it was like, from keeping the secret to the costume.”

Williams, who kicked off the Group C round, performed in the Lips costume. The Lips...

TV’s “upfront” sales session is more or less over. But that doesn’t mean A+E Networks has closed the sales window.

The company, which operates A&e, History, Lifetime and several other cable networks, plans to hold a half-hour showcase to highlight its 2021 programming. The preview will be made available between October 27 and 29, and will feature appearances by Tim Allen, Laurence Fishburne, Morgan Freeman, Salt-N-Pepa, Wendy Williams and others, who will help highlight more than 1500 hours of original content.

“Our business is 52 weeks a year and that’s why it is critical for content providers to have an enormous cache of immediately available, premium content. We are so fortunate to have a programming team that delivers a continuous pipeline of exciting projects across our distinctive brands,” said Peter Olsen, president of ad sales for A+E Networks, in a statement. “We continue to provide brand clarity to our audiences...

After making its world premiere at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield is ready to hit theaters. Searchlight Pictures is debuting the reimagining of the Charles Dickens’ classic starring Dev Patel in physical theaters (remember those?). To be more specific, the film will open in over 1,350 theaters across the U.S. and Canada with an expansion on September 4. David Copperfield is the first film Searchlight Pictures has released in theaters since Wendy in late February, a month before the pandemic caused box offices to shutter.

Emmy winners and Oscar nominees Iannucci and Simon Blackwell adapted the screenplay from The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunderstone Rookery and told the story of the titular character as we see his glow...

Cynthia Erivo has signed a first-look television deal with MRC Television and Civic Center Media, MRC’s joint venture with UTA.

Under the deal, Erivo will develop and produce television projects through her newly formed production company, Edith’s Daughter. Edith’s Daughter will focus on projects that express the beauty in the stories and people who are often overlooked and underrepresented. Solome Williams will serve as vice president of Edith’s Daughter.

The deal keeps Erivo in the MRC TV fold, as she recently starred on the HBO series “The Outsider,” which was produced by MRC and Civic Center Media.

“MRC was an incredible partner on ‘The Outsider’ and I’m unbelievably excited to begin this new creative journey in television with them,” said Erivo. “I could not think of a better partner than my new Vice President Solome Williams, who is brilliant and has thoroughly impressed me with her experience and drive.

Oscar nominee and The Outsider star Cynthia Erivo is expanding her relationship with MRC Television and Civic Center Media, the studio’s joint venture with UTA, with a first-look deal. Under the pact, Erivo will develop and produce television projects through her newly formed production company, Edith’s Daughter. Additionally Erivo has named former Bron Studios executive Solome Williams as Vice President of Edith’s Daughter, a company whose mission is to “focus on projects that express the beauty in the stories and people who are often overlooked and underrepresented.”

“MRC was an incredible partner on The Outsider and I’m unbelievably excited to begin this new creative journey in television with them,” said Erivo. “I could not think of a better partner than my new Vice President Solome Williams, who is brilliant and has thoroughly impressed me with her experience and drive. I’m looking forward to building with her.

New releases scarce in the week before ‘Tenet’ hits many markets.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 21

It is a quiet weekend for new releases in UK and Irish cinemas, with just two new titles on screens: Sam Quah’s Chinese crime thriller Sheep Without A Shepherd and Grégory Magne’s Perfumes.

Sheep Without A Shepherd reached number one at the Chinese box office following a December 2019 release, and was one of the last blockbuster hits in the country before Covid-19 forced the closure of venues in January. It was re-released on July 20, following the reopening of some cinemas.

Released by Trinity Film...

New releases scarce in the week before ‘Tenet’ hits many markets.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 21

It is a quiet weekend for new releases in UK and Irish cinemas, with just two new titles on screens: Sam Quah’s Chinese crime thriller Sheep Without A Shepherd and Grégory Magne’s Perfumes.

Sheep Without A Shepherd reached number one at the Chinese box office following a December 2019 release, and was one of the last blockbuster hits in the country before Covid-19 forced the closure of venues in January. It was re-released on July 20, following the reopening of some cinemas.

Released by Trinity Film...

The Wendy Williams Show will return to the air September 21, Williams announced on social media today.

“I’m sooo excited to bring you silly, funny, glamour and hopefully brighten your day during these crazy times that we’re all living in…even if for just an hour,” Williams wrote about the 12th season of her syndicated daytime program. “I miss you and can’t wait to get back in my purple chair and show you what we did to the set.”

Last month, Williams said the show was “taking a pause” on its remotely-produced episodes until the state of New York gave the okay to resume. Yesterday, New York entered Phase 4 of its reopening plan, with restrictions on capacity and crew.

The Wendy Williams Show had been airing remote episodes (Wendy@Home) from Williams’ New York City home since April 6 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The nationally syndicated talker, along...

“The Wendy Williams” show will be back on the air starting in September, the host announced Tuesday.

“I can’t wait to get back to all of You and to my Amazing staff and crew!!!,” Williams wrote in an Instagram post announcing the show’s planned studio return. Williams said the 12th season will begin airing on Monday, Sept. 21.

Williams’ daytime talk show has been off the air since May, when the host announced she was taking an indefinite hiatus from the program due to fatigue that was related to her Graves’ disease. Prior to the hiatus, Williams, like many other hosts, had been doing an at-home version of her show due to the pandemic.

Also Read: Wendy Williams to Take Hiatus From Talk Show for Health Reasons

In previous updates, Williams said her health was in good condition and she was waiting for approval from New York State to...

UK-China relations took a further dive today after the UK government announced it would ban its mobile providers from buying new Huawei 5G equipment as of December 31, and mandated they remove all existing equipment from their networks by 2027. The move follows sanctions imposed on the Chinese tech giant by the U.S.. The countries say that Huawei poses a threat to national security, a claim the firm denies. In response, Huawei threatened to “move Britain into the digital slow lane”.

Melbourne International Film Festival has unveiled the program for its 68 1/2 edition, which is taking place in a digital format after the cancellation of the event’s regular festival due to the pandemic. Consisting of 113 films, including 12 world premieres and 83 Aussie premieres, the event will open with the national premiere of Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow. Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy will screen as the centerpiece, with Pablo Larraín’s Ema as the closing film.

Jude Law is in talks to play Captain Hook in Disney’s “Peter Pan & Wendy” live-action film, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

Ever Anderson is set to play Wendy while Alexander Molony will play the famous boy who wouldn’t grow up. “Pete’s Dragon” director David Lowery is directing from a script he co-wrote with Toby Halbrooks. Jim Whitaker is producing.

Disney adapted J.M. Barrie’s famous novel and play in 1953, and since then, there have been many on-screen adaptations, such as Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” starring Robin Williams and Joe Wright’s “Pan.” Benh Zeitlin recently directed “Wendy,” which looks at the character of Wendy in the classic tale.

Also Read: How Benh Zeitlin Fulfilled a Boyhood Dream to Direct the Peter Pan-Inspired 'Wendy' | Video

Disney is currently planning to release “Mulan” on August 21 in theaters after the studio was forced to...

Part of our on-going series Notebook Soundtrack Mixes.Wendy Carlos sits away from the limelight. Some might say she is somewhat a mysterious figure in the realms she is recognized in: film composition, classical composition, and electronic music. A pioneer of electronic music invention and application, Carlos is behind the development of much that we now take for granted in contemporary music, helping open up a word of new possibilities for future generations of composers and bedroom producers alike. Studying music and physics at Brown in the 1960s, Carlos went on to earn a masters in music at Columbia under the tutelage of electronic composer pioneer Vladimir Ussachevsky. It was there, a year before graduating, that Carlos met Robert Moog. The two began a partnership with a mutual vision: to create an instrument with the same expression as the piano, to update the form in the same way the piano updated the clavichord.

The timeless story of Peter Pan is reimagined in the wildly inventive and engrossing Wendy from director Benh Zeitlin. But the real treasure of the film is young star Devin France who bedazzles and electrifies the screen as the titular character.

Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, the fabled Wendy must fight to save her brothers, gain her freedom, and retain the joyous spirit of youth all while constantly battling the deadly specter of adulthood in this enchanting film from Searchlight Pictures, and the director of Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012). Simply put, this is not the legend of Peter Pan you may be familiar with. This is a new vision of the character from a gifted director, told primarily from the perspective of the character of Wendy, the young girl who accompanied Peter and the Lost Boys on their adventures and skirmishes against...

Disney had decided to halt production on its current and upcoming slate of live-action movies. This comes as the coronavirus outbreak worsens, with countries around the world taking progressively extreme measures to contain the disease. As a precaution, Disney is temporarily suspending filming on movies such as The Little Mermaid remake, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and more.

According to various reports, Disney has already stopped filming projects that are currently in production, such as Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley, the filmmaker's follow-up to the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water, which is being produced through Searchlight Pictures, and Ridley Scott's The Last Duel, through 20th Century Studios, which stars Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver. As we previously reported, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, an upcoming Marvel Studios released, recently halted production as director Destin Daniel Cretton self-isolated.

Upcoming productions, some...

Despite a handful of films postponing their release dates as a precautionary measure in the wake of the coronavirus, the specialty box office is persevering and hoping that arthouse audience will come through. Last week, A24’s First Cow delivered a career-high opening for Kelly Reichardt — but that was before the coronavirus turned into a pandemic. With events being canceled, the rise of concern and social-distancing becoming a common practice, we’ll have to see how this will impact the limited release titles, which is a very different creature than wide-release titles.

Leading the pack this week is the Focus Features title Never Rarely Sometimes Always directed by Eliza Hittman and starring Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder, Théodore Pellerin, Ryan Eggold and Sharon Van Etten. The story follows two teenage girls in rural Pennsylvania. Faced with an unplanned pregnancy and a lack of support, Autumn (Flanigan) and her cousin Skylar (Ryder...

With the premiere of Wendy and Come Away at this year's Sundance Film Festival, Peter Pan is very much making its way back into our cultural consciousness in 2020. Wendy is directed by Beasts of the Southern Wild filmmaker Behn Zeitlin and Come Away is a new origin story starring Angelina Jolie and David Oyelowo (it has yet to be widely released).

Related: Ranking All Tinkerbell Movies From Worst to Best

As Wendy so recently hit theaters, and Come Away plans to enter cinemas soon, it's about time we took a look back at other interpretations of J.M. Barrie's classic that have hit screens over the years.

La Jolla Playhouse's Fly is currently playing through March 29 in the Mandell Weiss Theatre The cast features Storm Lever PlayhouseBroadway productions of Summer The Donna Summer Musical as 'Wendy' and Lincoln Clauss Bat Out of Hell as 'Peter Pan.' They are joined by Eric Anderson as 'Hook,' Victor E. Chan as 'Boris,' Audrey Cymone as 'SlightlyJane,' Jeremy Davis as 'Noodler,' Nick Eibler as 'Nibs,' Collin Jeffery at 'Curly,' Nehal Joshi as 'Smee,' Liisi Lafontaine as 'Crocodile,' Isabelle McCalla as 'Tink,' Sean Pope as 'Twins,' David Price as 'Skylights,' Daniel Quadrino as 'Toodles,' Daniel Stewart Sherman as 'Max,' along with ensemble members Hettie Barnhill, Dayna Jarae Dantzler, Victoria Fiore, Shonica Gooden, Amara Granderson, Masumi Iwai, Emily Grace Kersey, Kamille Upshaw and Naomi C. Walley and Lillith Freund, Jimmy Larkin, Jake Millgard and Alexia Sky as Swings.

Italy’s state broadcaster Rai is reacting to the country’s coronavirus crisis by significantly increasing the quantity of content for kids and teens playing on its channels in an effort to entertain and educate the millions of students that are holed up at home.

With schools closed until at least April 3 in the country that is suffering the worst coronavirus outbreak in Europe with a current death toll of 366 — the highest outside mainland China –– broadcasters, and also streamers, are fast becoming part of the collective survival effort.

Rai has announced it has carved out a much broader slot for children and teen fare on its generalist RAI2 channel that is now offering a slew of animation shows such as “Wendy” from U.K. studio Red Kite and live action series like Germany’s “Burg Schreckenstein,” as well as lots of local productions.

Rai’s dedicated thematic channels for children Rai Yoyo,...

This weekend, the specialized world showed no signs of public resistance to moviegoing. That so much of the audience is older,and perhaps more wary, is encouraging.

The successes include the opening of the acclaimed “First Cow” (A24), a couple of niche limited openers (“The Booksellers” from Greenwich with the best per-theater number), the successful expansion of “Emma” (Focus), and decent continued results for two offbeat wider and younger-audience titles: “Impractical Jokers” (truTV) and “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising” (Funimation).

However, the complete failure of two higher-end titles — “Wendy” (Searchlight) and “Greed” (Sony Pictures Classics) — as they expanded in their second weekends showed audiences are picky and the success rate remains challenging.

Specialized distributors are as concerned about possible theater shutdowns as anyone in the business. At this point, no changes have been made, but sources say this has gone from a day-to-day review to an hour by hour.

Apple...

Chicago – The Peter Pan mythos is as well known as any legend, ever since J.M. Barrie invented the character in 1904. Through nearly a hundred versions in virtually all media, the theme remains the same … what happens if we never grow up. Benh Zeitlin adds his spin in “Wendy,” the follow-up to his Oscar nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2012).

The Explorer: Devin France is the Title Character in ‘Wendy’

Photo credit: Searchlight Pictures

“Wendy” focuses on the title character, portrayed with wide-eyed wonder by Devin France. She is portrayed as the modern-day daughter of a single mother, flanked by her twin brothers Douglas and James (Gage and Gavin Naquin). The austere family lives by a train depot, and the three siblings are tempted by a mysterious child rail rider named Peter (Yashua Mack) to run away. They travel to a mysterious island, where the inhabitants never grow up. The...

“Wendy,” Benh Zeitlin’s riff on the iconic Peter Pan tale, was something he dreamed about making his entire life. “Me and my sister Eliza, who I wrote the film with, really dreamed about making this film our entire lives, and it evolved as we grew up,” Zeitlin told TheWrap’s Steve Pond at the Sundance Film Festival. “I think that when we looked back at all of our games we played as children, where you were in a world and when you became 13 you were out — you were kicked out of it. In our childhood world, you know, we looked at adults and we just thought, how could that happen to us? What are we gonna lose that’s going turn us into who we are now, which is wild and free and imaginative and what’s gonna turn us into people that we don’t recognize? People who are destroying the planet,...

Benh Zeitlin’s “Wendy” took the lead among indie films struggling to find footing for their limited release openings this weekend, with the grittier take on “Peter Pan” only grossing $30,000 from its four-screen New York/Los Angeles release for a $7,500 average.

It’s a far cry from Zeitlin’s Oscar-nominated “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which had an opening average of $42,425 in the summer of 2012 and went on to gross $21 million worldwide. Starring Devin France as a girl who follows a reckless boy into a world where time is twisted, “Wendy” premiered at Sundance and received mixed reviews with a 40% Rotten Tomatoes score. It will expand to 10 more cities next weekend.

Sony Pictures Classics’ “Greed” opened this weekend to $28,496 from four screens for an average of $7,124. From the actor-director team of Steve Coogan and Michael Winterbottom, this satire of the fashion world and the ultra-rich has a 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

“Emma” (Focus) had a strong initial second weekend expansion, but the top news comes from two unexpected niche releases. The top 10 successes of “My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising” (Funimation) and the second weekend of “Impractical Jokers: The Movie” (truTV) suggest new paths to theatrical success.

An exclusive date for “Saint Frances” (Oscilloscope) stood out in a weekend that saw poor initial play for “Wendy” (Searchlight) and “Greed” (Sony Pictures Classics) — films with top directors and mediocre or worse reviews.

Opening

My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising (Funimation) – Metacritic: 71

$5,109,000 in 1,260 theaters; PTA (per theater average): $4,054; Cumulative: $8,482,000

Where did this come from? This second film from the popular Manga action comic opened on Wednesday from Funimation, a Sony Pictures-related company, with the top gross opening day. But rather than just play like an event as similar films, it continued its run to end up as the surprise #4 film overall this weekend.

Universal and Blumhouse’s “The Invisible Man” materialized at the top of box office charts after debuting to $29 million in North America over the weekend.

“The Invisible Man” is Universal’s latest attempt to remake its classic monster properties, an effort that failed spectacularly with 2017’s “The Mummy” starring Tom Cruise. After that movie was commercially panned and became a box-office bust, the studio scrapped its plans to create an interconnected “Dark Universe.” Instead, Universal took the concept in a different direction and focused on creating standalone stories unique to each otherworldly creature. That approach seems to have paid off since “The Invisible Man” has been praised by critics and audiences. The Elisabeth Moss-led thriller only cost $7 million to make, not including marketing fees, meaning it’s already a financial hit for the studio.

“In the wake of 2017’s ‘The Mummy,’ Universal, in a nimble and smart move, went...

After breaking out with Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin has stumbled with his misjudged take on Peter Pan

It’s a tale as old as time, or at least as old as Hollywood: a hotshot young director scores on their first outing and, awash with accolades and flattering box-office receipts, goes out to make their big follow-up. Then … nothing. The curse of the sophomore slump strikes, leaving a once-promising talent on the skids, their initial flickers of greatness now called into question. The latest retelling of this narrative also happens to be one of the most stark, in terms of the distance between a hit’s point A and a bellyflop’s point B. This week, the new film Wendy becomes the latest spurned by that fickle mistress show business.

Related: Wendy review – Peter Pan fantasy that never grows up into an interesting film...

The specialty box office is headed towards the second star on the right and straight on till morning with Benh Zeitlin’s magical adventure Wendy, a fresh reimagination of J. M. Barrie’s classic tale of Peter Pan. The pic from Searclight Pictures is Zeitlin’s follow up to his Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild which was released in 2012.

Co-written by Zeitlin and his sister Eliza, Wendy isn’t necessarily cut from the same cloth from Disney animated feature, rather it speaks to Zeitlin’s hyperealstic aesthtetic. The film, which debuted at Sundance earlier this year, stars newcomer Devin France in the titular role of Wendy, based on the heroine Wendy Darling of Peter Pan. In Zeitlin’s vision of Neverland, Wendy and her friends get whisked away by a boy named Peter where they get lost on a mysterious island where no one ages and time stands still.

Wendy director Benh Zeitlin on the Montserrat volcano: "Every time I would go back there I had to rewrite the script because things would just be growing at this rate that’s exponential. It’s so fertile and so alive.”

Benh Zeitlin’s Wendy, a free-range take on Jm Barrie’s classic story of Peter Pan, co-written with his sister Eliza Zeitlin, who is also the production designer, has Wendy Darling living with her single mother (Shay Walker) and twin brothers James and Douglas (Gavin Naquin and Gage Naquin) above the diner they run right by the railroad tracks in rural Louisiana.

Beasts Of The Southern Wild and Wendy director Benh Zeitlin (with Anne-Katrin Titze) on nature: "There are things on this Earth that are so awesome, they’re unexplainable the same way magic is.” Photo: Sam Fetner

One night, the three kids hop on the roof of a freight train,...

Who knew that “Beasts of the Southern Wild” was not just a nervy, thrilling debut film, but a design for living?

Director Benh Zeitlin suggests as much with “Wendy,” his second feature, which arrived eight years after “Beasts” took the 2012 Sundance Film Festival by storm on its way to Best Picture and Best Director Oscar nominations.

That film was the uproarious chronicle of a feral young girl, Hushpuppy, who lived in a ramshackle community (“the Bathtub”) in the swamps of the southern U.S., resisting the constraints of civilization at every turn. “Wendy,” which also premiered at Sundance, begins on the outskirts of civilization, in a small diner right by the side of the train tracks, and then finds a way to escape into a wild, exuberant and dangerous utopia.

Oh, and it’s a riff on “Peter Pan,” and on the whole idea of storytelling and the power of myth.