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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....

The author of multiple current New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels has not one but TWO different “Bridgerton”-related series that you can start next: the Smythe-Smith Quartet books, about a group of amateur musicians frequently mentioned in her novels, and a set of “Bridgerton” prequels about the Rokesby family (called, incidentally, the Rokesby Series). “The Smythe-Smith quartet is seen in the ‘Bridgerton’ books. It’s this awful musicale that people go to, and I finally wrote a series of books about the poor young ladies who have to play that terrible music,” Quinn explained to IndieWire....

Apple TV+’s most ambitious series in its fledgling originals library wavers between operatic lunar exploration saga and small-scale family drama in the decision-making rooms of the Johnson Space Center and the houses within driving distance. The show, as it’s structured, can’t exist without both. The sweeping vistas near the moon’s Shackleton crater are relatively inert without an appreciation of what gets the fictional astronauts to its doorstep. The organizational power struggles back at Houston are just set-dressed board meetings unless the show can deliver on what all that planning is leading toward....

Of all the issues that voters must consider, the future of movie theaters wouldn’t make a list of the top 1,000. However, election results could significantly impact theaters and studios as they consider the short- and long-term strategies that will bring them closer to recovery. The most recent Democratic Senate aid proposal added movie theaters to the Save Our Stages plan initially designed for live venues only. The package is meant to supplement broader paycheck protection programs and help audience-based entertainment businesses crippled by COVID-19....

The world of Westeros is returning to HBO in the new year with the prequel series “House of the Dragon,” and that’s not at all. Just this week, news broke that Steve Conrad has been hired as the writer and executive producer of a second spinoff series titled “Dunk & Egg.” There are also reports that HBO is in development on two animated series set in the “Thrones” universe. And according to the book, back in 2017, Martin was surprised to learn just how many prequels HBO had in the cards....

With upcoming prequel series “House of the Dragon” premiering August 21, the history of the Targaryen clan is once again at the center of the “Thrones” universe, even after its sole surviving heir Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) had her fate sealed in the original series finale. The Season 8 ending subverted fan expectations and especially incited “social media backlash,” according to HBO and HBO Max content chief Casey Bloys. “I think in multiple parts of our society, we are reminding ourselves that Twitter is not real life,” Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter....

But the Gothams are always a bit funky. The annual ceremony typically welcomes much of the New York film community to a fancy sitdown dinner at Cipriani Wall Street and marks the first glitzy awards show of Oscar season, but as the primary fundraiser for IFP (which recently changed its name to the Gotham Film and Media Institute), the show has always illustrated the challenge of putting on a grand show with limited resources....

Did I expect any of this to be touched on during HBO Max’s nearly two-hour reunion special? No. Warner Bros. has been fairly transparent that they still plan to work with Rowling, regardless of what she says. But I did hope that maybe, 20 years after the release of the first feature film, there might be a desire to look at something, anything. And, sure, there are moments that touch on darkness presented in this hour and 45 minutes, but they’re few and fleeting....

“Everyone knows Heath was a user of prescription drugs; and that he had addiction issues when he was a young man,” Shiach said at the time (via MovieMaker), noting that Ledger’s personal struggles attracted the actor to “Queen’s Gambit” protagonist Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy with a similar addiction. “The movie business lost a real talent. I think he would have been an extraordinary director.” Shiach wrote the film adaptation of “The Queen’s Gambit” himself and two directors boarded and left the project early on: “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” filmmaker Michael Apted and Bernardo Bertolucci....

“The guns that we use on movie sets are only used for movies, not for target practice, plinking, or anything else,” Tristano told IndieWire in an interview. “Everything is always unloaded. It goes from our safes at the shop, to a truck, to the set. On the set, all the guns are open. The loading gate is open, the cylinder is set so it can be rotated and the ammo — and by that I mean blanks — are very visible....

No director in history has been so closely associated with juggling the commercial and artistic potential of the medium. Even as he remains an underdog this year with his “West Side Story” nomination (which is Jane Campion’s to lose for “The Power of the Dog”), Spielberg’s latest opportunity speaks to his unique capacity to make audience-friendly movies that his Academy brethren embrace as embodying filmmaking at its finest. He’s a crowdpleaser with big ideas whose entire oeuvre chases the mainstream concept of “movie magic” as a mission statement....

“King Richard” is finally here. The critically acclaimed biopic starring Will Smith as Venus and Serena Williams’ father, Richard Williams, arrived in theaters and on HBO Max November 19. Smith’s performance is already generating Oscar buzz, and for fans who want to experience the movie from the comfort of home, it will remain on the streaming platform for the next 31 days. “King Richard” showcases Richard’s instrumental role in helping his daughters become two of the most phenomenally gifted athletes in the world....

“That was horrible. Nobody wanted to be there. Nobody wants to do that, but if it’s telling a story then you have to tell it truthfully,” Rheon said. “They didn’t sensationalize it or anything. It was very, very hard watching. It’s a horrible thing that happens, unfortunately… It was the worst day of my career.” Rheon continued, “Chopping someone’s finger off you don’t really see it, and when you’re doing like a close up, it’s a piece of plastic....

But “Cats” does have its defenders, and one of them turns out to be Jennifer Hudson, who plays the lonesome and decrepit Grizabella the Glamour Cat, who sings the fan-favorite “Memory.” In a recent interview with Total Film while promoting her new film “Respect,” in which she stars as Aretha Franklin, Hudson said that she thinks future generations will look back on “Cats” differently. “You know what? I think it was a bit overwhelming....

The special was filmed in February 2022 at the Blue Note Jazz Club, across from the Comedy Cellar, in New York City. Carmichael tells stories of his family history, plus his own coming-out process, in “Rothaniel.” As reported by Variety, Carmichael recalls catching his father cheating and relating to having a “secret.” “After that was out in the open, I was left alone feeling like a liar, because I had a secret, one that I kept from my father, my mother, my family, my friends, and you,” Carmichael said....

“Agencies don’t actually care about independent film,” Cummings said in an interview last week. “They care about money and power. The way we make films is by completely circumventing that system.” Now, Cummings and co-director PJ McCabe have made the case with a new movie. With “The Best Test,” the pair follow the outrageous misadventures of Jordan (Cummings), an avaricious agent at an unnamed agency who stumbles into a nightmarish blackmail scheme against the backdrop of the 2019 WGA battle against packaging fees....

In a new interview with the Associated Press, Williams said that he is currently putting the finishing touches on his “Indiana Jones 5” score, and believes it may be his final film. “At the moment I’m working on ‘Indiana Jones 5,’ which Harrison Ford — who’s quite a bit younger than I am — I think has announced will be his last film,” Williams said. “So, I thought: If Harrison can do it, then perhaps I can, also....

After a tumultuous divorce from Amber Heard following domestic violence allegations, Depp is slated to portray King Louis XV in French director Maiwenn’s upcoming film, Variety reported. The film is produced by Pascal Caucheteux and Gregoire Sorlat’s Why Not Productions, with Wild Bunch International handling world sales. Production will begin in summer 2022, mainly set at the Versailles Palace. Though the movie’s title and plot have not yet been revealed, King Louis XV, who was nicknamed “the beloved,” ruled for almost 60 years before dying, after being accused of corruption....

The trailer, which Universal released in February, set up a captivating premise, beautifully lensed by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema: James and Jill Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer) run Hollywood’s only Black-owned horse ranch and are touting their family’s entangled history with the motion picture business. Her great-great-great-grandfather was the man in the iconic image of a jockey on a horse that served as a 19th-century study in how to make images “move....

“A lot of these giant corporate entities have business with countries around the world, Saudi Arabia or China, and they’re just not going to criticize them,” Apatow said, “and they’re not going to let their shows criticize them or they’re not going to air documentaries that go deep into truthful areas because they make so much money.” Apatow added, “So while we’re going, ‘Can we say this joke, can we not say that joke,’ on a much bigger level, they have just completely shut down critical content about human rights abuses in China, and I think that’s much scarier....