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Exclusive: Carl Clemons-Hopkins, one of the Emmy-nominated stars of Max’s Emmy-winning comedy Hacks, has signed with Independent Artist Group for representation.

On Hacks, Clemons-Hopkins portrays Marcus Vaughan, the loyal, hardworking and highly organized head of the management team repping famed Las Vegas stand-up Deborah Vance (Jean Smart). For their work opposite Smart and Hannah Einbinder, they earned their first Emmy nomination back in 2021, becoming the first out, gender non-binary actor to be recognized in any category. To date, Clemons-Hopkins has also been nominated for a pair of SAG Awards as part of the ensemble.

Hacks returned for its third season in May and has already been renewed for a fourth.

In film, Clemons-Hopkins recently starred opposite Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Zach Galifianakis in The Beanie Bubble, a dramedy inspired by the Beanie Babies craze of the 1990s, from Apple and Imagine Entertainment. Additional film credits include Nia DaCosta...

The latest outing of the robots in disguise abandons its blockbuster credentials, and it’s all the better for it. Here’s our Transformers One review.

It’s strange to think that, of all the films based on toys we’ve had in cinemas since 2020, Transformers One is only really the second to be aimed squarely at a young audience. Even then, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (which is technically based on a comic book anyway) offered old folks a degree of respite with a grungy-Spider-Verse art style and the half-shelled heroes’ signature anarchism.

It’s equally strange that the Transformers franchise, eight feature films in, has spent most of the last 17 years appealing to teenage boys and your mate’s mate who you wish you weren’t obliged to keep inviting to the pub. 2018’s Bumblebee was the first film to break the series’ tradition of being both uncomfortably leery and headache-inducingly dull.

Brand-based movies are big business in Hollywood right about now. From Air to Blackberry, and from The Beanie Bubble to Flamin' Hot to Unfrosted, there's something about getting the inside track on the stories behind the world's biggest enterprises that studios just can't get enough of. And now, per Deadline's reporting, it looks like Steven Spielberg and Judd Apatow are the latest lining up to drink the company pic Kool-Aid — or rather sup the soda-y stuff. The cinema juggernauts are teaming up to respectively produce and direct Sony's upcoming Cola Wars, a new movie that's set to pop the can on Pepsi's efforts to dethrone Coke as the kings of cola back in the late 70s to mid 80s.

Acapulco co-creator and writer Jason Shuman is tooling up to pen Cola Wars alongside Cars 2 and 3 scribe Ben Queen, with the initial pitch for the movie having...

Exclusive: Molly Gordon (Theater Camp), Logan Lerman (We Were the Lucky Ones), Geraldine Viswanathan (Drive-Away Dolls) and John Reynolds (Search Party) are set to star in Oh, Hi!, an indie comedy written and to be directed by Sophie Brooks (The Boy Downstairs), who conceived the story with Gordon.

Entering production in New York this month, the film centers on Iris (Gordon) and Isaac (Lerman), whose first weekend away as a couple is going so well — until Isaac mentions he didn’t know they were a couple. Iris is sure he’s just confused….so she decides to hold him captive until they get on the same page.

Brooks and Gordon developed the project alongside producers David Brooks and Dan Clifton. Julie Waters will also produce for Watermark Media, which is financing with QWGmire, AmorFortuna, and Bespoke Production Capital. The executive producers are Evan Dyal, Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty,...

It’s rare when a ripped-from-the-headlines adaptation fails to capitalize upon the wilder, weirder aspects of its real-life counterpart. Yet that’s what happens in the case of director Austin Peters’ “Skincare,” which, to be fair, only claims to be a fictionalized version of the true-crime story of a successful celebrity aesthetician who allegedly hired a hitman to take out her competition. What’s there borrows from the real scandal to lightly explore the feminine rage, jealousy and paranoia festering underneath a girl-boss gloss so prevalent in the early 2010s. Through slick aesthetics bolstered by a sensational soundscape, the filmmakers build an entrancing, atmospheric mood piece. But given a few of its omissions, it’s questionable why the storytellers didn’t go in for the kill.

Skin is fragile (it’s the largest organ in the human body), tasked with keeping us healthy and in one piece. It’s no...

New York-based Wavelength, which co-financed TIFF world premiere On Swift Horses, has hired former Imagine Entertainment executive Caitlin Cleary as director of scripted development.

Based in Brooklyn, Cleary’s primary focus will be narrative features as she collaborates with president Joe Plummer and London-based managing director Dan Bowen to expand the company into the scripted space and branded entertainment.

Her arrival comes as the company founded by Jenifer Westphal builds a feature roster including On Swift Horses, Daniel Minahan’s adaptation of Shannon Pufahl’s novel set in the 1950’s American West starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi and Will Poulter...

Australian actor Sarah Snook is widely known for her Emmy-winning role as Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, the youngest of the Roy children on the wicked wealth drama "Succession." She appeared in every episode of the show and was able to match the performance of heavy-hitter Brian Cox, who played Shiv's father, Logan. Since "Succession" ended in 2023, Snook has moved back to her acting roots in the theater, appearing on stage in her native Australia.

Even in small supporting roles, however, Snook is an impressive screen presence. She was excellent as a snotty daughter in the ghost story "Winchester," and some might remember her from her small role in "Steve Jobs" in 2015, where she played Apple's marketing guru Andy Cunningham. Snook also appeared in the horror film "Jessabelle" and, in 2023, served as star and executive producer in the film "Run Rabbit Run." Her most recent film was "The Beanie Bubble," which...

Several years ago, Netflix shook things up by not only including top ten charts on its platform for viewers to see, but the streaming giant also made a whole website dedicated to sharing viewership metrics. It has provided an odd window into what people are watching on the world's largest streaming service at any given time. At the moment, a whole bunch of people are watching a new action flick called "Trigger Warning," which stars Jessica Alba as an ass-kicking Special Forces soldier/bar owner.

As of this writing, director Mouly Surya's film is sitting firmly in the number one spot on the Netflix movie charts ahead of the DreamWorks animated flick "Home" and Universal's "Fifty Shades of Grey." The latter film's star, Dakota Johnson, has been having quite the run on Netflix, as Marvel's "Madame Web" recently dominated the charts as well -- but that's another story altogether.

Elizabeth Banks has one of her best roles to date in A Mistake, the New Zealand-set medical drama that had its world premiere Friday night at the Tribeca Festival.

It might be easy to forget that Banks is one of the best actors out there, especially since she also is known these days as a director (most recently Cocaine Bear) and even game show host (Press Your Luck). But as her most recent acting work in films like The Beanie Bubble and Call Jane proves again, she has real acting chops and always has. Therefore it is nice to see her sink her teeth into a major lead role in an intense but understated and dedicated turn as a brilliant and confident surgeon whose one routine mistake during an operation spirals out of control. In the process, her life becomes a mess, making her question just exactly who she really is,...

“The Fall Guy” is swinging into theaters this weekend, as are the indie masterpieces “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Evil Does Not Exist.” Fortunately, a handful of fun and intriguing titles are also hitting digital platforms, including a dynamic documentary about a rock ‘n’ roll linchpin.

The contender to watch this week: “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg”

No, this isn’t a “Hunger Games” sequel. Anita Pallenberg was an actress, a New York It Girl, and a denizen of Andy Warhol’s Factory, but she is best known as an associate of the Rolling Stones. She dated founder Brian Jones and, later, guitarist Keith Richards, with whom she had three children. Some people have called her the band’s muse. Pallenberg’s life was not always as glamorous as it sounds, though, and directors Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill mine her highs and lows for a compelling...

For years various producers have pitched doing something like a zany It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, only populated by an epic cast of contemporary comedy stars just like that Stanley Kramer supercomedy did during its time in 1963. So it is probably not a coincidence that Jerry Seinfeld selected that very year in which to set his live action filmmaking debut, Unfrosted, as a quadruple threat of star, director, co-writer, producer.

Placing it in Battle Creek, Michigan and taking the real life story of the rivalry of cereal kingpins Kellogg’s and Post in their race to create a revolutionary breakfast pastry, Seinfeld and his longtime writing partner Spike Feresten, along with their Bee Movie collaborators Andy Rubin & Barry Marder, have chosen to use some real life people, made up several others, salted it all with some basic truths, and basically let the laughs and comedy lead the way in the telling.

It’s funny that both of Jerry Seinfeld’s movies have been pegged to such high-concept premises, as the sitcom legend famously built his brand with a show about nothing. In fact, that might be the funniest thing about them. First came 2007’s deeply strange “Bee Movie,” in which Seinfeld — who produced, starred in, and co-wrote the project — voiced a honeybee who starts getting hot for a human florist. Now comes Seinfeld’s directorial debut, a sketchy and surreal business parody that re-imagines the rush to invent the Pop-Tart as if the rivalry between Post and Kellogg’s were as crucial to the future of western civilization as the Space Race or the Manhattan Project.

It’s the perfect streaming comedy for anyone who felt that “Oppenheimer” had too many laughs.

Why would an aging billionaire spend two years of his life — and an ungodly amount of Netflix’s money...

Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks will engage in a bit of sibling rivalry as the leads of Prime Video’s newly greenlt adaptation of Alafair Burke’s 2019 mystery novel, The Better Sister.

The Better Sister is described as electric thriller about “the terrible things that drive sisters apart and ultimately bring them back together.” Biel will play Chloe, who moves through the world with her handsome lawyer husband Adam and teenage son Ethan by her side, all as her estranged sister Nicky (Banks) hustles to make ends meet while trying to stay clean.

More from TVLineAnd Just Like That: Rosie O'Donnell...

Elizabeth Banks and Jessica Biel are set to headline a series adaptation of the Alafair Burke novel “The Better Sister” at Amazon Prime Video, Variety has learned.

“The Better Sister” is described as a thriller about “Chloe (Biel), who moves through the world with her handsome lawyer husband Adam and teenage son Ethan by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Banks) hustles to make ends meet while trying to stay clean,” per the official description. “When Adam is brutally murdered, the prime suspect sends shockwaves through the family, laying bare long-buried secrets.”

The series hails from Olivia Milch and Regina Corrado, who will serve as showrunners and executive producers. Banks will also executive produce via Brownstone Productions, as will Biel and Michelle Purple under their Iron Ocean Films banner. Craig Gillespie will direct in addition to executive producing along with Annie Marter through Fortunate Jack Productions. The series is...

Vertical has released the first trailer for its upcoming supernatural horror film “The Exorcism,” starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Simpkins.

According to the official logline, “The Exorcism” follows Crowe as “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play.”

Additional cast members include Sam Worthington (“Avatar: The Way of Water”), Chloe Bailey (“Praise This”), Adam Goldberg (“The Equalizer”), David Hyde Pierce (“Frasier”), Adrian Pasdar (“Near Dark”), Tracey Bonner (“The Beanie Bubble”) and Josh Warren (“Footloose”).

Joshua John Miller serves as director and co-wrote the script with his partner M.A. Fortin. “The Exorcism” marks Miller and Fortin’s second feature, after the 2015 horror comedy “The Final Girls.” They also created the USA Network drama series “Queen of the South.” Producers of “The Exorcism” include Kevin Williamson,...

Jerry Seinfeld, Adrian Martinez, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Moynihan, James Marsden Photo: John P. Johnson It’s the movie that will make you say, “This is Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut? Huh!” The first trailer for Unfrosted, premiering on Netflix on May 3, is here. If you’re wondering why Seinfeld chose this,...

Jerry Seinfeld, Adrian Martinez, Jack McBrayer, Thomas Lennon, Bobby Moynihan, James Marsden

Photo: John P. Johnson

It’s the movie that will make you say, “This is Jerry Seinfeld’s directorial debut? Huh!” The first trailer for Unfrosted, premiering on Netflix on May 3, is here. If you’re wondering why Seinfeld chose this,...

Matthew Macfadyen joins ‘The Miniature Wife’ (Photo Credit Josh Wool)

Two-time Emmy winner Matthew Macfadyen is following up his incredible run as Tom Wambsgans in HBO’s critically acclaimed Succession with a starring role in The Miniature Wife. Emmy nominee Elizabeth Banks is also on board to star in the series, and both Banks and Macfadyen will serve as executive producers.

The series, described as a romantic dramedy, was just given a straight-to-series order by Peacock.

“The Miniature Wife, based on the short story written by Manuel Gonzalez, is a high-concept marital dramedy examining the power (im)balances between spouses, Lindy (Elizabeth Banks) and Les (Matthew Macfadyen), who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis,” reads Peacock’s synopsis.

Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner (Boardwalk Empire) created the dramedy and will guide the series as showrunners and executive producers. Additional executive producers include Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer.

Exclusive: In a competitive situation, Peacock has handed a straight-to-series order to romantic dramedy The Miniature Wife, starring and executive produced by Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), from Michael Ellenberg’s Media Res.

Created and executive produced by Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner, who also serve as showrunners, The Miniature Wife was taken out to premium buyers at the start of the year. It attracted interest from multiple streamers, ultimately landing at Peacock with a series order.

Based on the short story written by Manuel Gonzalez, The Miniature Wife is a high-concept marital dramedy examining the power (im)balances between spouses, Lindy (Banks) and Les (Macfadyen), who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis.

Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer executive produce for Media Res.

A three-time Emmy nominee, Banks most recently starred opposite Zach Galifianakis...

Zach Galifianakis has been cast in Season 4 of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” Variety has learned.

Like recently announced cast member Kumail Nanjiani, Galifianakis’ role in the mystery-comedy series is currently kept under wraps. However, an individual with knowledge of the situation can confirm his character is “integral to the twist and turns of this season’s investigation.”

The three series leads remain Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as true crime-obsessed neighbors that get caught up in real cases. Additional new faces in Season 4 include Eugene Levy, Eva Longoria and Molly Shannon. Meryl Streep, who first appeared in Season 3, will also reprise her role. Little is known about the upcoming season aside from the fact that the mystery-solving trio will make a trip to Los Angeles before returning to their native New York.

Galifianakis is well known for starring in “The Hangover” trilogy, in which he...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Original Score Killers of the Flower Moon Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone Credit: AppleTV+

Weekly Commentary: It’s Ludwig Göransson taking home another Oscar for “Oppenheimer,” following his first win for “Black Panther.”

Next.

Will Win: “Oppenheimer” (Ludwig Göransson)

Could Win: “Killers of the Flower Moon...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Original Song Barbie

Weekly Commentary: With an original song win, Billie Eilish, 22, and Finneas, 26, would become the youngest artists ever to win two Oscars before the age of 30. The pair won for James Bond theme “No Time to Die” in 2022, and are nominated this year for “What Was I Made For,...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Actress in a Leading Role Emma Stone in “Poor Things”

Weekly Commentary: In best actress, the competition is as fierce as it gets. Emma Stone’s transformation into a woman with a child’s brain surgically implanted in Yorgos Lanthimos’ sci-fi comedy “Poor Things” has garnered substantial support.

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Picture

Weekly Commentary: Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster biopic “Oppenheimer,” narrating the saga of the father of the atomic bomb, is poised to sweep the Oscars. Having clinched every major guild and industry accolade – BAFTA, Critics Choice, Golden Globes, DGA, PGA, and SAG – it’s the first...

Actress Geraldine Viswanathan has joined the cast of ‘Thunderbolts’, replacing Ayo Edebiri in an undisclosed role after the Emmy-winning ‘The Bear’ star dropped out of the project due to scheduling.

Geraldine Viswanathan joins a massive ensemble cast of actors playing some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best known anti-heroes, including Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen, Olga Kurylenko and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, reports ‘Variety’.

Although specific plot details remain top secret, the movie will effectively serve as Marvel’s version of the DC’s anti-hero team the ‘Suicide Squad’, with the characters brought together to do the dirty jobs the Avengers can’t do.

As per ‘Variety’, Jake Schreier is directing from a script by Eric Pearson. Since Geraldine Viswanathan’s career launched in the 2018 teen-comedy ‘Blockers’, she’s appeared opposite Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney in ‘Bad Education’, opposite Dacre Montgomery in...

More changes are happening for the cast line-up of Marvel's Thunderbolts. On the heels of Steven Yeun departing (with Top Gun: Maverick's Lewis Pullman reportedly in talks to replace him), we have another substitution in the works. The Bear's Ayo Edebiri, who had been in an unspecified role for the film is now departing due to a schedule clash, to be replaced by Blockers' Geraldine Viswanathan.

Thunderbolts, which assembles the likes of Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Harrison Ford as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, has been beset by delays thanks to the dual strikes of last year.

Beef's Jake Schreier is directing the film, with the Netflix show's Lee Sung Jin crafting the most recent script draft.

Viswanathan...

The upcoming Marvel Studios production Thunderbolts is going to feature multiple actors from various previous Marvel films and TV shows reprising their roles. It’s got Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster… and if Thunderbolts had started filming last summer, as it was supposed to before the strikes hit, it also would have had actress/writer/comedian Ayo Edebiri, whose credits include Big Mouth, The Bear, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, in the cast. Unfortunately for Edebiri, the production delay caused her to run into scheduling issues, so she has had to drop out of the project. Deadline reports that the character she was going to be playing will now be played by Geraldine Viswanathan.

Viswanathan’s credits include Blockers,...

A week after it was reported that Lewis Pullman is stepping in for Steven Yeun in Marvel movie Thunderbolts, the feature has swapped out another star due to scheduling.

Geraldine Viswanathan will take over for Ayo Edebiri, who recently earned an Emmy for her role in FX series The Bear and had to exit the superhero pic due to conflicts.

Thunderbolts was hit by delays due to the writers and actors strikes of 2023, with its release date pushed a year to July 25, 2025. The film has a cast that includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Jake Schreier is directing the feature, which has not yet begun filming.

Viswanathan, who is repped by WME, was last seen in the Apple feature The Beanie Bubble and is due out in theaters with Ethan Coen’s Focus Features title Drive-Away Dolls. She will star alongside Reese Witherspoon and...

Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” is coming further into focus.

Geraldine Viswanathan has joined the cast of the team-up film, replacing Ayo Edebiri in an undisclosed role after the Emmy-winning “The Bear” star dropped out of the project due to scheduling.

Viswanathan joins a massive ensemble cast of actors playing some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best known anti-heroes, including Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes (aka the Winter Soldier), Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as John Walker (aka U.S. Agent), Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr (aka Ghost), Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Although specific plot details remain top secret, the movie will effectively serve as Marvel’s version of the DC’s anti-hero team the Suicide Squad, with the characters brought together to do the dirty jobs the Avengers can’t do.

Jake Schreier is directing...

Exclusive: Geraldine Viswanathan is set to join Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts as she replaces Ayo Edebiri, who is departing the project due to scheduling after production was delayed due to the dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year.

Viswanathan is the second recent addition after the film added Lewis Pullman to step in for Steven Yeun, who departed for similar scheduling reasons as Edebiri.

Marvel had no comment.

Viswanathan joins an ensemble originally announced during Disney’s D23 event last year that includes Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Sebastian Stan as Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent John Walker, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster.

Jake Schreier is set as director of the new Marvel tentpole, which Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige is producing. Not much is known about the plot of the film,...

Whenever awards season comes around, we start to see a lot of the same movies appear on Top 10 lists from critics or in the roster of nominees from the many Hollywood organizations that vote on year-end cinematic greatness. Whether they're critics circles from around the country, the various guilds for writers, directors, producers, actors, and other filmmaking departments, or the big show from the Academy Awards, there are always a handful of titles that garner attention across the board. 

Some would have you believe this happens because critics and members of Hollywood at large are afraid to go against the grain and adopt a groupthink mentality, which is a big reason why so many general audiences see Rotten Tomatoes as more of an entity representative of all critics as opposed to a review aggregator trying to generalize many voices. But perhaps it's because groups of seasoned filmgoers come to recognize...

321 films are in contention for this year’s Academy Awards, while 265 features are eligible in the best picture category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday as it released its annual “reminder list” for members.

To be eligible in the general categories, films (meaning a runtime of more than 40 minutes) must open in a commercial theater in at least one of the following areas: Los Angeles County; the city of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023. Additionally, it must complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue.

To be eligible for the best picture category specifically, the movies must be eligible for the general entry and have “submitted a confidential Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards entry form.” Additionally, the film must meet two of the four standards required, in addition to the theatrical component.

Clockwise from bottom left: The Mother Of All Lies (TIFF), Bobi Wine: The People’s President (National Geographic), The Eternal Memory (Screenshot: YouTube), and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)Graphic: The A.V. Club

In the age of the internet, the world has become smaller, more connected—and a lot messier.

Our Pmc sister website Variety is reporting that the motion picture academy has named 94 tunes as eligible for Best Original Song at the 2024 Oscars. See the complete list below of every song currently on the ballot for the music branch. A total of 15 will be announced this Thursday, December 21, on the Oscar short list. A final five will be revealed on January 23 as the the actual nominees.

SEEDiane Warren interview: ‘The Fire Inside’ from ‘Flamin’ Hot’

Gold Derby has been offering you the opportunity to predict the Best Original Song category for the past few weeks. Among some of the surprise omissions:

“Barbie” producers have chosen not to submit “Barbie World,” “Speed Drive” and “Pink.” That film’s three official submissions are “I’m Just Ken,” “Dance the Night” and “What Was I Made For?”

“Trolls Band Together” producers have not entered “Family,” “Watch Me Work” and “Let’s Get Married.

Ninety-four songs and 149 scores have been deemed eligible in the music categories for the 96th annual Academy Awards, Variety has learned.

Voting began Thursday, with 390 members of the Academy music branch eligible to vote in this year’s competition. And for the first time in years, there appear to be no surprises or glaring omissions.

Any film can submit up to three songs, and the “Barbie” entries were as expected: Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made for,” Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and the Mark Ronson-Andrew Wyatt song “I’m Just Ken.”

Five other films submitted the maximum of three songs, including two from Disney: the live-action “The Little Mermaid,” with “For the First Time,” “The Scuttlebutt” and “Wild Uncharted Waters,” all by Alan Menken (who won Oscars for the original in 1989) and Lin-Manuel Miranda; and “Wish,” the Julia Michaels-Benjamin Rice tunes including “I’m a Star,...

Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including events for Poor Things, The Color Purple and American Fiction.

Leave the World Behind premiere

Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, Kevin Bacon, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and writer-director Sam Esmail walked the carpet at the NYC premiere of their Netflix thriller on Monday.

Ethan Hawke and Julia Roberts Kevin Bacon, Sam Esmail, Ethan Hawke, Julia Roberts, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, Mahershala Ali and Myha’la Herrold

American Fiction premiere

Writer-director Cord Jefferson joined stars Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross and Sterling K. Brown at their film’s Los Angeles premiere on Tuesday.

Cord Jefferson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Erika Alexander and Adam Brody

Wish music celebration

The team behind the music of Wish, including star Ariana DeBose, celebrated with an event in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Five top film directors will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2024 awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Tuesday, December 5, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 7:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Christopher Rosen and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

American Fiction (MGM)

Synopsis: A novelist who is fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment uses a pen name to write a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

Bio: Cord Jefferson was an Emmy winner for “Watchmen.” Other...

Clockwise from top left: The Beanie Bubble, Tetris, The Banker, Causeway (all Apple TV+)Graphic: AVClub

Unlike Netflix, Amazon Prime, or Hulu, which each offer movies to stream from many studios both large and small, Apple TV+ focuses almost exclusively on Apple Originals that are, for the most part, only available on its platform.

Exclusive: Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment is partnering with Wattpad Webtoon Studios to develop a feature adaptation of Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell, the hit comic from the creator known as Unfins, which has thus far garnered more than 160 million views on digital comic publishing platform, Webtoon.

Attached to script the live-action take is Cody Blue Snider, a veteran of the commercial and music video worlds, who is best known for his award-winning shorts All That Remains and Fool’s Day. Imagine will produce alongside Wattpad Webtoon Studios, with Karen Lunder and Allan Mandelbaum overseeing for Imagine, and Aron Levitz, David Madden and Lindsey Weems Ramey overseeing for Wattpad Webtoon.

Unfins’ Ringo Award-nominated comic tells the story of Paul, a hapless high schooler madly in love with “the girl next door.” After mistakenly summoning The Great Duke of Hell, Astaroth, Paul offers his soul...

Intellectual property — the books, films, characters and properties that get butts into seats — has long been a cornerstone of Hollywood moviemaking. But many of this year’s films have drawn from less likely, though perhaps inevitable, sources of inspiration: products and brands. Movies ranging from “Barbie” and “Air” to “BlackBerry” and Michael Mann’s upcoming “Ferrari” all to one extent or another leverage the namesake of the object, or the business associated with it in the name of attracting audiences to theaters.

This parade of product-driven titles seems to mark an inflection point in a crowded entertainment landscape where consumer recognizability has become one of the most important (or seemingly only) factor when deciding which movies to make.

At their best, these movies hit it out of the park with critics and moviegoers, as in the case with “Barbie,” the biggest movie of the year, or gain critical heat, as with “Air,...

The 2023 edition of Deadline’s live-music event Sound & Screen: Film hit the stage November 9 showcasing the songs and scores from 12 of the ramping-up awards season’s buzziest movies. Panelists and performances came from the likes of Diane Warren and Mark Ronson and from movies as varied as Barbie and Creed III to Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. The packed crowd of industry voters saw a 60-piece orchestra perform the music live.

Click here to launch Deadline’s streaming site featuring all the music and panels.

Studios and streamers participating in the action this year included Amazon MGM Studios, Apple Original Films, Columbia Pictures, Netflix, Orion Pictures, Paramount, Searchlight, Sony Pictures Classics and Warner Bros.

The full list of films taking part: 80 For Brady, American Fiction, Barbie, The Beanie Bubble, Creed III, Flamin’ Hot, Flora and Son, Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, The Peasants, Saltburn and Society of the Snow.

SAG-AFTRA may still be on strike, but studios are, nevertheless, pushing their Oscar contenders to garner the adequate (and allowed) attention they need to land nominations.

One of the main methods is getting industry voters out to screenings and making films available on the Academy Screening Room and BAFTA screening platforms. With the two significant organizations banning physical DVD screeners, voting members rely on the respective digital viewing portals to catch up on some of this year’s contenders vying for awards consideration.

Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

The Academy performs a heavy vetting process for each film that chooses to submit for consideration. Historically, over 300 movies are in the running for best picture consideration, with more films joining the fray over the next several months. Distributors are the ultimate decision-makers of when a movie is placed in the Academy Screening Room for viewing.

Hilarity and pathos intertwine in this likable comedy as the smartphone creators go loopy with wealth – and slack-jawed when the iPhone spoils the party

Here is a punchy Canadian comedy-drama in that burgeoning true-life genre which could loosely be called Tech Startup Hubris; we’ve seen Dumb Money (about GameStop), WeCrashed (about WeWork), and The Beanie Bubble (about the bizarre 90s web-driven tulip-style craze for Beanie Babies). The great ancestor of them all is naturally David Fincher’s The Social Network, about Facebook, with its propulsive script by Aaron Sorkin. This film is a fictionally souped-up account of the steep rise and sudden fall of the BlackBerry, the handset device that towards the end of the 00s was so ubiquitous and addictive among the white-collar classes it was known as the “Crackberry”.

But then Steve Jobs unveiled his iPhone, and the BlackBerry executives suddenly looked like a bunch of brontosauruses...

Dumb Money is a biographical comedy-drama film directed by Craig Gillespie from a screenplay by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. Based on a novel by Ben Mezrich titled The Antisocial Network, the film chronicles the GameStop short squeeze, which happened in January 2021. Dumb Money stars Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Shailene Woodley, Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Anthony Ramos, America Ferrera, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Sebastian Stan. So, if you loved the comedy-drama film here are some similar movies you could check out next.

The Big Short (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Paramount Pictures

Synopsis: When four outsiders saw what the big banks, media and government refused to, the global collapse of the economy, they had an idea: The Big Short. Their bold investment leads them into the dark underbelly of modern banking where they must question everyone and everything. Based on the true story and best-selling book by Michael Lewis,...

Tata Takes Bite Of Apple In India

Indian channels aggregator, Tata Play Binge, is soon to incorporate Apple TV+, a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Apple TV+ in India. The move means that series such as “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” “Silo,” “Hijack,” “Foundation,” “Tehran,” “Servant,” “Platonic,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” “Bad Sisters,” “Slow Horses” and “Prehistoric Planet,” and Apple Original Films including “Coda” and “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse,” “Ghosted,” and the recently premiered “The Beanie Bubble” will be available on the platform. The launch is being heralded in an ad campaign fronted by Bollywood superstars Saif Ali Khan and Katrina Kaif.

Apple Original films set to make their debut on Apple TV+ soon include Martin Scorsese‘s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone; spy thriller “Argylle,” with Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena,...

Netflix’s Pain Hustlers is a largely fictionalized tale of a very real-world and rather eye-opening business: selling an easy fix for what ails us, even if it leads to addiction and death.

Although names have been changed and characters invented (though inspired for some by actual cases and people), the original source material is all too real. Based on a New York Times article by Evan Hughes and then developed as Hughes was turning his research into the book The Hard Sell: Crime and Punishment at an Opioid Start-Up, screenwriter Wells Tower has fashioned a riveting if disturbing scenario brought to life by director David Yates, who was looking for a less fantastical tale to tell other than the Harry Potter movies he was directing. He found it, and also his way in to what might be quite a shocking exposé of just how far into a grift some...

This post contains spoilers for "Succession."

Everyone knows it's better to quit while you're ahead, but actually doing that can be harder than it sounds. Doubly so when we're talking about "Succession," a show that was already a critical darling before surging in popularity thanks to viewers (like myself) catching up on creator Jesse Armstrong's acidic tragicomedy about the decline of the Roy family's corporate empire during the lockdowns in 2020. Now, the show's become such a defining part of the zeitgeist, all it takes is a certain billionaire's failed rocket launch and suddenly social media is flooded by jokes about Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) reacting to the catastrophic failure of an attempted satellite launch.

It's to Armstrong's credit, then, that he ended the show at the peak of its popularity in season 4, realizing it had reached its natural conclusion. For everyone else, who had no idea what to expect from the season going in,...

Two completely different movies just spurred a huge streaming weekend for Paramount+.

The first thing to know: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” was the most-streamed movie in the U.S. last weekend, according to Whip Media’s weekly movie ranker. Whip Media’s ranker is based on viewership data from TV Time, its TV and movie tracking app with more than 26 million global registered users.

“Beasts” took the top spot immediately after making its Paramount+ debut on July 25. But its streaming success wasn’t necessarily a sure thing.

The new “Transformers” movie, directed by Steven Caple Jr. and starring Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, pulled in about $430 million at the box office. That’s a lot of money, to be sure, but it’s also the smallest amount made out of any of the franchise’s seven installments. Its finish atop Whip Media’s ranker marked the first time since...

Exclusive: Imagine Entertainment has struck a pre-emptive film rights deal for Whalefall, the next anticipated novel from best-selling author Daniel Kraus. The deal for the book option was reached ahead of its August 8 publication by MTV Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Agreements of the sort are not frequently come upon these days, amid the SAG-AFTRA and the WGA strikes. The idea here is, of course, to develop Whalefall for the big screen, at the point when Hollywood is again back up and running. No development will be done and no writing services will be rendered here until new guild contracts are struck.

Already generating critical acclaim from early readers and immense buzz within the world of publishing, the book is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours. The story follows a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains who gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm...

Elizabeth Banks recently told Rolling Stone that the media was behind the “gendered agenda” of “Charlie’s Angels,” her 2019 action-comedy starring Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott and Ella Balinska that flopped at the box office. The director told The New York Times last year that she wished the film’s marketing “had not been presented as just for girls,” but now she told Rolling Stone that’s the only perspective the media was interested in perpetuating anyway.

“So much of the story that the media wanted to tell about ‘Charlie’s Angels’ was that it was some feminist manifesto,” Banks said. “People kept saying, ‘You’re the first female director of ‘Charlie’s Angels!” And I was like, ‘They’ve only done a TV show and McG’s movies … what are you talking about? There’s not this long legacy.’ I just loved the franchise. There was not this gendered agenda from me.