Sunday Am: For a total weekend that’s making less than $100M, there were some impressive feats going on. From out of the blue, Sony/Marvel’s Venom the Last Dance after registering the lowest opening in the trilogy with $51M, actually held fantastically with a -49% second weekend or $26.1M. That percentile hold is the best for the trilogy ahead of Venom‘s second weekend decline of -56% and Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s -65%, but it’s also great for a comic book movie ahead of Deadpool & Wolverine‘s (-54%) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (-63%). But still for a B- CinemaScore comic-book movie — ‘Yeah!’ for Sony. Running total is $90M through Eod today.

Meanwhile, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot saw an amazing sixth weekend spike of +11% –unheard of–with $7.55M for a second place steal; pic’s running cume now at $121.4M.

“Venom: The Last Dance” topped the box office again as newcomer “Here,” a fantasy drama that uses AI so Tom Hanks and Robin Wright can play younger (and older) versions of themselves, fizzled in its debut.

“Here,” which was produced and financed by Miramax and distributed by Sony, opened in fifth place with $5 million from 2,647 North American theaters. The film, which reunites the “Forrest Gump” co-stars with their director Robert Zemeckis, follows the inhabitants of a single house over the course of 100 years — allowing Hanks and Wright to portray teenagers and octogenarians across 105 minutes thanks to de-aging technology. Critics and audiences rejected the movie with a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes and “B-” grade on CinemaScore. So, word-of-mouth may not help bolster attention for “Here” in its box office run. The movie cost $45 million and needs a long life in theaters to justify that price tag.

Hanks has been a massive big screen draw over the years,...

The Gladiator II actor pauses to reflect upon his mile-a-minute career

“I have a hard time taking a break,” says Fred Hechinger. “The thought of it is nice, but by the second day...” He pulls a bored face. This is not very surprising. Hechinger does not stop. In just six years as a working actor, he has had roles in over 20 films and four TV shows. He started with Bo Burnham’s raw high-school drama Eighth Grade, broke out with The White Lotus, and has racked up co-stars including Tom Hanks (News Of The World), Natalie Portman (Vox Lux), Christian Bale (The Pale Blue Eye), and Amy Adams (The Woman In The Window). He has five projects out this year alone.

“My family don’t really understand it,” he says of his very busy slate. “They’re like, ‘How have you done all this?’ I have to explain, ‘I don...

It’s been 25 years since The Talented Mr. Ripley premiered in theaters, and Jude Law says it’s still the role of his that fans most often want to talk about when they see him out and about. After the film premiered in December 1999, Law knew it was a turning...

I can’t keep up with him.

On a recent September afternoon, Jude Law is running away from the set of “Black Rabbit,” a Netflix miniseries where he plays a Manhattan nightclub owner who welcomes his troublemaker brother back into his life. Today’s setup, shot in the South Street Seaport, involves a flashback sequence between Law’s character and his scraggly sibling, played by Jason Bateman. Law and I are supposed to meet in the lobby of a hotel after the scene wraps, but filming goes over, and his assistant, Ryan, texts me that Law wants to talk to me as he walks to his trailer a few blocks away. But by the time I make it outside, he’s already a distant figure on the horizon.

Is he that man in blue? “No, he’s in the gray,” Ryan says. “He’s fucking quick.” Unless we sprint — and...

Su director y guionista, Isaiah Saxon, ha tenido que defenderse de acusaciones de uso de Ia. © A24

A24 ha publicado el primer tráiler y póster de The Legend of Ochi, una aventura épica de fantasía que supone la ópera prima de Isaiah Saxon, tras haber dirigido videoclips de artistas como Björk, Grizzly Bear, Dirty Projectors o Kanye West, y que también ha escrito el guion de la película.

The Legend of Ochi se sitúa en un remoto pueblo del norte. Una niña, Yuri, es educada para no salir nunca de noche y para temer a las criaturas del bosque conocidas como Ochi. Cuando un bebé Ochi es abandonado por su manada, Yuri se embarca en la aventura de su vida para reunirlo con su familia.

La película está protagonizada por Helena Zengel (Noticias del gran mundo), Finn Wolfhard (Cazafantasmas: Imperio helado), Emily Watson (Gosford Park) y Willem Dafoe (Pobres criaturas).

Después del lanzamiento del tráiler,...

Stephen King’s Fairy Tale is set to become a ten-part television series. Paul Greengrass is aboard the project.

While the Bourne series of films that made Paul Greengrass’ name continue on without his involvement, the filmmaker has reportedly signed a deal with A24 to produce a TV adaptation of Fairy Tale, the dark fantasy novel by Stephen King. Greengrass has been kept pretty busy as a producer these past few years with his last directorial effort being 2022’s News Of The World starring Tom Hanks.

As we covered back in 2022, Greengrass had written a feature adaptation of King’s 600 page novel and was planning to direct it. The rights ended up at Universal but at some point in the last two years, things have clearly changed.

A24 now seems to have the rights to the project and want it to be a TV series, probably a better idea in truth.

A Stephen King adaptation has just found new life. The author's 2022 book "Fairy Tale" was originally eyed as a feature film. Now though? It's being retooled as a TV show by the folks at A24. This information comes courtesy of the folks at Deadline, who've revealed that Paul Greengrass is expected to be involved as a director and producer. Peter Rice ("Saturday Night") is also on board as an executive producer.

What's interesting here is that Greengrass was originally attached to direct "Fairy Tale" as a movie when he won the rights to the novel in 2022. While the new report notes that Greengrass' deal has not closed yet, it seems like things are headed in that direction. So, it appears as though the Oscar-nominee has really tuned into the material and wants in on the action, be it on the big or small screen.

It's also noted that the project...

People tend to fear what they do not understand, and in A24‘s The Legend of Ochi trailer, a young girl defies the laws of tradition to return a mythical creature to its forest home. Isaiah Saxon wrote and directed this adventure fantasy film starring Helena Zengel, Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson, and Finn Wolfhard.

The Legend of Ochi takes place in what appears to be some post-apocalyptic setting, with survivors forever fearful of what lurks within the depths of a nearby jungle. The group shares stories about a vicious creature skulking beyond the treeline, drooling and waiting for anyone foolish enough to come within its iron-like grasp. They hunt the beast but know little about its actual identity. It’s all fear-mongering and cautionary tales. That is until one young woman, Yuri, discovers the truth and can communicate with the creature.

Here’s the official logline for The Legend of Ochi...

Exclusive: A24 has taken on the Stephen King bestseller Fairy Tale. The dark fantasy will be mounted as a 10-episode series. Paul Greengrass, who wrote a script and expected to direct the feature, is expected to still be in the middle of things. That script will be expanded by Greengrass and J.H. Wyman, who will be the showrunner and whose credits include Fringe, Almost Human and Debris.

Peter Rice will be executive producer alongside Greengrass, Wyman and King. I’ve heard Greengrass will likely be involved as director, but his deal is not yet done. The other deals have closed.

The novel sparked a bidding battle back when it was auctioned in late 2022. Universal Pictures closed the deal, on the strength of the relationship the studio has with Greengrass over the Bourne Identity films, United 93 and News of the World.

This was King’s first real foray into fantasy fare,...

A plane crashes somewhere deep within the Amazon rainforest, screaming down upon the land of Brazil’s (fictional) Iruaté people like a missive from God. By some miracle, a young white girl named Rebecca — later identified as the daughter of a local missionary — has managed to survive the devastation that killed her mother and everyone else aboard the aircraft. Still buckled into her seat after the fuselage exploded around her, Rebecca would have been eaten alive by the ants if not for the tribesman who rescued her from the rubble and carried the girl back to Christian civilization.

That fateful act of kindness will prove to be one of the few truly selfless deeds in Pia Marais’ “Transamazonia,” a potent but emotionally diffuse coming-of-age drama in which everything — even faith, even love — has the potential to be as exploitative as the deforestation that continues to eat away at the soul of the Amazon.

There’s a distant, otherworldly aura to Rebecca Byrne, the teenage protagonist of “Transamazonia,” that is quite befitting of someone who literally dropped from the sky. As a small girl, a plane she was on crashed in the remote depths of the Amazon basin, leaving her the only survivor of the tragedy. Hailed by the media as a miracle child, she has since remained where she fell, carving out a reputation in the rainforest as a Christian faith healer. It’s a testament to Helena Zengel’s arresting, secretive lead performance that we’re never sure if miracles are Rebecca’s blessing or her branding. This central enigma informs the other, manifold ambiguities of Pia Marais’s intriguing environmental fable — in which religious mission work and industrial deforestation both pose threats to Indigenous identity.

Premiering in Locarno’s main competition, with a New York Film Festival slot to come, this...

Paul Greengrass may no longer be a journalist, but he has successfully brought a journalistic style to both action films and historical dramas over his career. The filmmaker is best known for his hand-held, cinéma vérité style where the camera moves like a cameraman embedded in the scene, struggling to capture real events. His style is often imitated, though few are able to match the subtly precise way that Greengrass constructs his sequences through quick cutting and frenetic camerawork. Despite being famous for a specific filmmaking technique, Greengrass’ filmography is still quite diverse, which should be apparent in the gallery below.

He began his career working for the audacious British current affairs program “World in Action.” He transitioned to fiction filmmaking with a series of TV movies based on historical events. His breakout hit was the historical drama “Bloody Sunday,” chronicling the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings. Greengrass was then hired to...

Prince Harry has given his first interview since his privacy lawsuit win against a major U.K. tabloid, speaking at length about the ongoing legal battle and why the late Queen Elizabeth II is “very much up there saying, ‘See this through to the end.'”

In ITV’s deep-dive documentary Tabloids on Trial, which aired in the U.K. on Thursday night, the Duke of Sussex was among myriad names, including Hugh Grant, former England soccer star Paul Gascoigne and ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who opened up about their fight for justice in the extensive phone-hacking scandal and subsequent legal battles.

The prince alleges that he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (Ngn) titles The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, which closed in 2011. Grant was also among those involved in the Ngn lawsuits (the Briton settled the...

Prince Harry has revealed that the royal family’s unwillingness to join him in taking on Britain’s notorious tabloid media in a courtroom battle that he’s been fighting — and winning — for the past few years is a “central piece” to the rift that’s formed between them as he opted for the “greater good.”

The Duke of Sussex did not elaborate on the matter when questioned about the cause of his estrangement from his older brother, Prince William, and father, King Charles. While Harry moved his family to Southern California with his wife, Meghan Markle, in June 2020, he has returned to London intermittently as a legal battle against several tabloid papers has unfolded in the high courts there.

When asked by ITV’s Rebecca Barry if the extent of his determination to fight the tabloids “destroyed the relationship with your family,” he replied, “I think that’s certainly a central piece to it.

Prince Harry and Hugh Grant will be featured in an ITV documentary focusing on ongoing legal battles and involvement in the phone hacking scandal titled Tabloids On Trial.

The Duke of Sussex alleges that he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for News Group Newspapers (Ngn) titles The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World, which closed in 2011. In May, the prince’s lawyers were told by a London judge that he cannot expand the privacy lawsuit against to include allegations against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and presenter Piers Morgan.

In 2011, news broke that some of Britain’s biggest stars and figures were allegedly victims of a scandal whereby the media’s top newspapers were tapping landlines and fitting properties with listening devices in the name of journalism. Ngn has denied any illegal activity took place at The Sun.

But in December, Justice Timothy Fancourt ruled in...

The first official trailer for Ridley Scott's long-awaited historical action epic Gladiator II has arrived online and it's every bit as epic as you'd expect as Paul Mescal (Normal People; Aftersun; The Lost Daughter) squares off against 3x Primetime Emmy-nominee Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian; Game of Thrones; Narcos) and Academy Award-winner Denzel Washington (Training Day; Fences; Malcolm X).

As per the official synopsis, "Gladiator II continues the epic saga of power, intrigue, and vengeance set in Ancient Rome. Years after witnessing the death of the revered hero Maximus at the hands of his uncle, Lucius (Paul Mescal) is forced to enter the Colosseum after his home is conquered by the tyrannical Emperors who now lead Rome with an iron fist. With rage in his heart and the future of the Empire at stake, Lucius must look to his past to find strength and honor to return the glory of Rome to its people.

Four of Tom Hanks last seven major roles have ended up on streaming services – yet have the films been pretty much forgotten already?

In February of 2023, we got something of an endangered species: a surprisingly positive box office story. That a movie had overperformed against fairly gloomy expectations, and turned into a success on the quiet.

That film was A Man Called Otto, released by Sony and directed by Marc Forster. An English-language remake of Oscar-winning Swedish film A Man Called Ove, what was interesting about the movie’s success is it’s the kind of film that’s apparently not supposed to work in cinemas. Aimed at an older audience, without showboaty effects or Roman numerals, and with a fairly morose central character: this is the stuff that streaming services want to devour.

But Sony gambled, put it into cinemas, and took home over $100m worldwide. That’s not Spider-Man money obviously,...

Prince Harry was not allowed to amend his upcoming lawsuit against News Group Newspapers with several new allegations, some of which pertained to media mogul Rupert Murdoch and others that involved his late mother, Princess Diana, and wife Meghan Markle.

Harry and the more than 40 other plaintiffs involved in the suit filed the potential amendments back in March. Among the biggest proposed claims was that Murdoch, who owns News Group Newspapers, was aware of the criminal activity allegedly taking place at his papers, such as phone hacking and other unlawful information-gathering techniques.

Prince Harry cannot expand his privacy lawsuit against the publisher of U.K. tabloid The Sun to include allegations against media mogul Rupert Murdoch and presenter Piers Morgan, a London judge has ruled.

The Duke of Sussex’s lawyers were hoping to sue over claims that Murdoch and other top executives were part of an effort to conceal and destroy evidence of unlawful information gathering. The prince alleges that he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for News Group Newspapers (Ngn) titles The Sun and the now-defunct News Of The World, which closed in 2011.

In March, he sought to amend his case to add new allegations, including that The Sun ordered private investigators to target his now-wife Meghan in 2016. He was further refused permission to push the timeline of the case back to 1994 and 1995, to include allegations involving his late mother, Princess Diana, as Judge Timothy Fancourt of...

Ah, the Wild, Wild West. Nothing smells of freedom and gunpowder like the American frontier. The vast prairies, devoted camaraderies and treacherous betrayals, honest cowboys, greedy gold prospectors, filthy outlaws, and rugged bounty hunters — this is the Western, a genre we all honor and love. So put on your hats and spurs, stock up on powder, and get ready for some epic showdowns, partners, because today we present ten great Western movies and shows that are available on Netflix this May.

10. News of the World

9. The Harder They Fall

8. The Power of the Dog

7. The Hateful Eight

6. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

5. 3:10 to Yuma

4. High Plains Drifter

3. Unforgiven

2. Old Henry

1. Godless

Netflix is a veritable treasure trove of great movies and shows. So it comes as no surprise that the streaming service is no less committed to the Western genre, regularly filling its library with projects old and new.

Roman Polanski was cleared of defamation charges in France in a case tied to a rape allegation brought by the British actress Charlotte Lewis.

As The New York Times reports, Lewis accused Polanski of raping her in 1983, when she was 16, during a casting session for the film Pirates at his home in Paris (Lewis later appeared in the film). In a 2019 interview with the French magazine Paris Match, Polanski denied Lewis’ allegation, calling it an “odious lie”; he also brought up an old 1999 tabloid interview in which Lewis spoke positively about him.

A French court has dismissed charges against French-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski that he defamed UK actor Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of sexually assaulting her as a teenager.

Lewis told a Paris court in March that she had been subjected to a “smear campaign” after speaking up about alleged sexual abuse by Polanski in the 1980.

The actor originally made her allegations in a press conference in Cannes in 2010, saying Polanski had taken advantage of her in the worst possible way during a casting meeting in Paris in 1983 when she was 16 years old. She would later go on to star in his 1986 film Pirates.

Polanski denied the accusations in an interview in French celebrity magazine Paris Match in 2019, calling them a “heinous lie.”

He also cited a 1999 News of the World interview in which Lewis was quoted as saying that she desired the director more than he had her.

Lewis,...

Update, 2.58am, April 18: Hugh Grant has explained his decision to settle in his privacy case with the publisher of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid The Sun, saying civil litigation rules in the UK forced his hand.

In a thread on social media, he wrote: “I don’t want to accept this money or settle. I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court. But the rules around civil litigation mean that if I proceed to trial and the court awards me damages that are even a penny less than the settlement offer, I would have to pay the legal costs of both sides.

“My lawyers tell me that that is exactly what would most likely happen here. Rupert Murdoch’s lawyers are very expensive. So even if every allegation is proven in court, I would still be liable for something approaching £10 million in costs. I...

Actor Hugh Grant has settled a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., the publisher of The Sun newspaper, out of court.

The trial was to have determined whether the News Corp. tabloid carried out unlawful information gathering, including tapping Grant’s landline phone, bugging his car and breaking into his home. But Grant in a post on X, formerly Twitter, said he had decided to “settle my claim out of court before it goes to trial,” to avoid possibly heavy court costs.

“As is common with entirely innocent people, they are offering me an enormous sum of money to keep this matter out of court. I don’t want to accept this money or settle. I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court,” Grant said in an X thread, without disclosing the size of his out-of-court settlement.

“But the rules around civil litigation...

Hugh Grant has settled a privacy case against News Group Newspaper (Ngn) which owns UK publication The Sun.

The actor’s High Court claim centrened on allegations of unlawful information gathering including burglary, “blagging” of medical records and landline tapping.

In a statement on X (formerly Twitter), Grant said he agreed to settle as going to court could risk the actor having to pay legal costs on both sides if damages awarded were less than the settlement offer.

Grant said: “I would love to see all the allegations that they deny tested in court. But the rules around civil litigation...

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is now being named by Prince Harry’s attorney as one of many News Corp. executives who allegedly knew the breadth of the company’s use of illegal news-gathering tactics and conspired to destroy evidence as the phone hacking scandal exploded over a decade ago.

The allegation came from attorney David Sherborne during a three-day hearing in London as the Duke of Sussex, actor Hugh Grant and others seek to amend their lawsuit against the company to include the charge that top brass, including then-executive chairman Murdoch, were fully aware that public statements downplaying the company’s use of phone hacking and other illegal tactics at News Group Newspapers (Ngn) were untrue.

During the first of a three-day hearing in the High Court, Harry and other claimants sought to amend their lawsuit against the publisher to include these allegations against executives, saying they were part of...

The Cinema Audio Society Awards gave a boost to the Oscar hopes of “Oppenheimer” on Saturday. The film took top honors at these precursor prizes that honor sound mixing over one of its Oscar rivals for Best Sound — “Maestro”– as well as “Barbie,” “Ferrari,” “and “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

The upcoming Oscars mark the fourth year for the Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The Cas honors the latter while the Motion Picture Sound Editors salute achievements in the former.

Last year all five of the society’s favorites — “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Batman,” “Elvis” and “Top Gun: Maverick” — sounded good to the academy’s sound branch. “Top Gun: Maverick” won both awards.

In 2022, four of the five Cas nominees — “Dune,” “No Time to Die,” “The Power of the Dog” and “West Side Story” — went on to contend at the Oscars.

The BBC is developing a sports based spin-off of long running panel show Have I Got News For You, currently called Have I Got Sports For You

Have I Got News For You stands as one of the longest running panel shows on television. Starting in 1990, team captains Paul Merton and Private Eye editor Ian Hislop are still with the show 34 years later. Classic moments include the show where Roy Hattersley was replaced at the last minute with a tub of lard, the show which immediately followed a scandal involving original host Angus Deayton, prompting Hislop to bring in a copy of News Of The World only for Merton to upstage him by getting the front cover printed up as a t-shirt. Then, the legendary 2008 edition hosted by Brian Blessed.

The BBC is currently in the process of developing a spin-off entitled Have I Got Sports For You. It will...

Oscar nominee America Ferrera has been cast in her next role outside of Barbie World.

Ferrera has signed on to star in Oscar nominee Paul Greengrass’ upcoming drama “The Lost Bus” alongside Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey, Variety has learned exclusively.

Being developed, produced and distributed by Apple Original Films with an original script by Brad Inglesby (“Mare of Easttown”), the film is based on Lizzie Johnson’s book “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire” about the devastating 2018 California wildfires that resulted in over 100 deaths and destroyed the majority of the town of Paradise. The fires were the deadliest in the state’s history. The movie centers on Kevin McKay (McConaughey) and Mary Ludwig (Ferrera), a bus driver and teacher who lead a school bus full of young students through the Camp Fire. The film will go into production this spring.

Ferrera is coming off receiving...

Paris-based company The Party Film Sales has boarded international rights to “Aicha,” Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s follow-up to the Venice-premiering “A Son,” and “Transmazonia” by Pia Marais (“Layla Fourie”).

WME Independent is repping North America and multi-territory deals on “Transmazonia.” Both films are in post-production and will be teased by The Party Film Sales at the European Film Market where the company will unveil promo-reels.

Set in contemporary Tunisia, “Aicha” is inspired by true events and tells the story of Aya, a woman in her late 20s who lives with her parents, feeling trapped in a life without prospects. One day, she’s involved in a bus crash while commuting to work. As the sole survivor of the accident, she realizes it could be her chance to start a new life. She flees to Tunis under a new identity, but everything is soon compromised after she witnesses a police blunder.

Apple TV’s new World War II epic Masters of the Air has faced a very steep climb to take flight, creatively speaking.

First, it had to live up to the legacy of its extraordinary predecessor, HBO’s 2001 limited series Band of Brothers, which some consider to be their all-time favorite war “movie.” BoB‘s successor, 2010’s The Pacific, showed, if anything, what a high bar the original set. And then there are the challenges of pulling off an air-war epic — it’s inherently tougher (for reasons we’ll get into), and potentially far more expensive (all those special effects shots), than infantry stories. Perhaps that’s why it’s taken more than a decade for Masters of the Air — which is based on Donald L. Miller’s book — to make the journey from concept to screen.

Masters of the Air executive producer Gary Goetzman is a co-founder of executive...

Four of our five predicted Oscar nominees for Best Sound number among the contenders for the Cinema Audio Society Awards for sound mixing announced on Jan. 9. Oscar frontrunner “Oppenheimer” reaped a bid as did three of its closest competitors –“Ferrari,” “Maestro,” “and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” The fifth nominee at the Cas is “Barbie,” which we have in 7th place on our Oscars chart. It bumped our fourth-place contender “The Zone of Interest.”

The upcoming Oscars mark the fourth year for the Best Sound category, which combines Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The Cas honors the latter while the Motion Picture Sound Editors salute achievements in the former.

Last year all five of the society’s favorites — “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Batman,” “Elvis” and “Top Gun: Maverick” — sounded good to the academy’s sound branch. “Top Gun: Maverick” won both awards.

Fans of Judy Blume’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” had to wait more than 50 years to see the classic children’s novel transferred to the big screen, but their patience was finally rewarded this spring. Written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig (“The Edge of Seventeen”) and featuring such A-listers as Rachel McAdams and Kathy Bates, the faithful film adaptation boasts an awe-inspiring Rotten Tomatoes critics score of 99% and was even described by its source’s author in a “Today” interview as “better than the book.” As the 2024 movie awards season begins, its best shot at a Golden Globe nomination lies with its 15-year-old star, Abby Ryder Fortson, who would be the fifth youngest contender in the history of her category.

At this point, Fortson is hovering directly outside of Gold Derby’s predicted six-person Best Comedy/Musical Actress lineup with the support of just over a quarter of our oddsmakers.

There's nothing Hollywood loves more than a snappy, propulsive, made-for-movies book premise from some of the most exciting authors around. Just in the last decade alone, we've seen writer Andy Weir parlay the breakout success of his debut work "The Martian" and its 2015 adaptation by director Ridley Scott into another upcoming movie deal, this time headlined by filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller. More recently, "Gone Girl" author Gillian Flynn has had "Sharp Objects" turned into a major HBO series, while she teamed up with no less a talent than Steve McQueen to adapt the British TV series "Widows" into one of the most brilliant, under-appreciated thrillers of the last several years. Now, movie fans would be well advised to remember the name T.J. Newman, who appears ready to become the next big name-brand novelist around.

Newman's first novel "Falling" inspired a massive bidding war soon after publishing in 2021 and,...

Earlier this year, we heard that Warner Bros. had come out the winner of an intense bidding war over the film rights to author T.J. Newman’s second novel, Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421 (you can pick up a copy at This Link). Now Deadline reports that Paul Greengrass – whose credits include The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne, United 93, 22 July, Green Zone, Captain Phillips, and News of the World – has signed on to write, direct, and produce the film adaptation of Drowning.

Newman’s novel tells the following story: A plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff and is flooded after an explosion during evacuation. A dozen survivors sink in a sealed part of the aircraft as it perches precariously on an undersea cliff 200 feet below the surface. Among them is an engineer and his 11-year-old daughter. His estranged wife and the girl...

Since hanging up his Bourne directing hat (looks like :a[someone else has picked it up]{href='https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/all-quiet-on-the-western-front-director-edward-berger-developing-new-jason-bourne-film/' }), Paul Greengrass has switched between returning to the historical thrillers that brought him to the world's attention (22 July) and crafted a novel adaptation News Of The World. Warner Bros. has him on board to work on another book-to-screen gig, as he's now attached to write, direct and produce a film based on Tj Newman's Drowning: The Rescue Of Flight 1421.

Newman's novel follows what happens when a plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean six minutes following takeoff and is flooded after an explosion during evacuation. A dozen survivors sink in a sealed part of the aircraft as it perches precariously on an undersea cliff 200 feet below the surface. Among them is an engineer and his 11-year-old daughter. His estranged wife — the girl’s mother — is part of the elite rescue...

Paul Greengrass has been hired to adapt the big-screen version of T.J. Newman’s novel “Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421.”

Greengrass will write, direct and produce the film, which is set at Warner Bros. The studio emerged victorious earlier this year in a bidding war, one that drew interest from the likes of Nicole Kidman, Alfonso Cuarón and Steven Spielberg, along with seven-figure offers from Apple and Bruckheimer, Paramount and Damien Chazelle, Legendary and Universal Television.

Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy prevailed after agreeing to pay $1.5 million for the rights and an additional $1.5 million on the first day of production. The studio also brought the “Drowning” author on as an executive producer.

“Drowning” centers on a plane that crashes into the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced...

Exclusive: Paul Greengrass has been set by Warner Bros to adapt, direct and produce Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 421. The T.J. Newman bestselling novel was the subject of a fevered bidding battle, with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy landing the novel for $1.5 million against $3 million. There were four other seven-figure bids on the table. The project reunites De Luca and Greengrass, who worked together on Captain Phillips.

In Drowning, a plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean six minutes after takeoff and is flooded after an explosion during evacuation. A dozen survivors sink in a sealed part of the aircraft as it perches precariously on an undersea cliff 200 feet below the surface. Among them is an engineer and his 11-year-old daughter. His estranged wife — she’s also the girl’s mother — is part of the elite rescue team that races to save the passengers before their air runs out.

Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” an epic look at the French emperor and military leader’s rise to power, is one of the final potential awards hopefuls awaiting its first reactions from critics and pundits. As awards season approaches, Variety has learned exclusively which Oscar categories the film will be submitted for. Most notably, Vanessa Kirby will vie for best supporting actress.

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

Joaquin Phoenix, who won best actor for the villain origin story “Joker” (2019) and has received three additional mentions during his career, will submit for leading actor for his performance as Napoleon. Kirby, who picked up her inaugural nom for “Pieces of a Woman” (2020), will vie for supporting actress for her role as Josephine, Napoleon’s wife and one true love. Two supporting actors will be submitted — Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian”) and Rupert Everett (“My Best Friend’s Wedding...

Exclusive: CAA has signed Luke Davies, the decorated Australian screenwriter, novelist and poet best known for his work on the 2016 Dev Patel drama, Lion.

Marking the feature directorial debut of Garth Davis, who’s currently back in theaters with the Amazon sci-fi thriller Foe, Lion is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley (Patel), who, against incredible odds, sought to reunite with his lost family after being separated from them by thousands of miles, over a period of 25 years. Davies won a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award for his adaptation of Brierley’s 2013 book, A Long Way Home. Nicole Kidman also starred in the pic, which launched out of the Toronto Film Festival and went on to claim a total of six Oscar noms, including Best Picture, also grossing an impressive $140M+ worldwide.

Davies is also known for teaming with filmmaker Paul Greengrass to script his...

Mazher Mahmood, a British maverick journalist, was a man of mystery who had operated several sting operations to expose some wealthy, influential, and corrupt members of society. The Fake Sheikh, released on Amazon, is a three-part docu-series that revolves around the man’s journey from gaining immense popularity for his controversial yet effective journalism to his imprisonment for tampering with evidence leading to his eventual downfall. A very flawed and shrewd character was Mazher Mahmood. Knowing his story makes us wonder what went wrong inside his head, which led him to break his commitment to honest and truthful journalism.

Who Was Mazher Mahmood?

Mazher Mahmood started his journey by working in a tabloid press. He contributed stories to newspapers like “News of the World” and “The Sunday Times”. One of his associates and close friends was Paul Samarai, with whom he joined forces to conduct a sting operation, exposing the wealthy and influential Dr.

The London tabloid world has traditionally been a sort of journalism Bizarro World, where entrapment is standard practice and news is manufactured on a profit-driven whim, often at the expense of innocent victims. For two decades, Mazher Mahmood strode over this ethics-starved world like a corrupt colossus, enabled by his employers, chiefly News of the World, to destroy lives as an “undercover reporter.”

Mahmood, dubbed “The Fake Sheikh” for the disguise he used to ensnare many of his unwitting targets, once gathered up a large group of illegal immigrants, delivered them to the police,...

Lachlan Murdoch, the 52-year-old scion, has — at least for now — won the game of succession at the media empire built by his aging father, Rupert.

Lachlan is not a change agent. His assumption of sole day-to-day command at News Corporation and Fox Corporation is a story of continuity — which likely means that the media organs under his watch will continue their signature mix of tabloid populism, climate denial, and mindless Maga-mania. In the letter announcing Lachlan’s promotion, Rupert called him “absolutely committed to the cause.”

The rise of the...

To celebrate the release of Asteroid City, available to own with all-new bonus content on Digital from September 11 and on Blu-Ray and DVD on September 25, 2023 we are giving away a Blu-Ray and Wes Anderson Signed Poster to 1 lucky winner!

A fictional American desert town, circa 1955. Junior Stargazers and Space Cadets from across the country assemble for the annual Asteroid Day celebration — but the scholarly competition is spectacularly upended by world-changing events. Equal parts comedy, drama, and romance (with a touch of science-fiction).

Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hanks star in comedy Asteroid City. Written and directed by seven-time Oscar® nominee Wes Anderson, Asteroid City on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD showcases brand-new featurettes with exclusive talent and filmmaker interviews that dive deeper into the film’s unique characters, story, and themes of community and curiosity, lifting the curtain on Anderson’s extraordinary vision.

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only.

Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hanks star in the “hilarious and joyful” (GQ) comedy Asteroid City, available to own with all-new bonus content on Digital on August 11, 2023 and on Blu-ray and DVD on August 15, 2023 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Written and directed by seven-time Oscar® nominee Wes Anderson, Asteroid City on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD showcases brand-new featurettes with exclusive talent and filmmaker interviews that dive deeper into the film’s unique characters, story, and themes of community and curiosity, lifting the curtain on Anderson’s extraordinary vision.

Certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, Asteroid City “packs a punch with its ensemble cast” (Slash Film), featuring an all-star, critically acclaimed supporting cast alongside Schwartzman, Johansson, and Hanks, including Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori,...

In a couple of months’ time — on September 19, to be exact — the Emmys will be held barring any delays due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Once those awards are out of the way, it will then be time to focus on the Academy Awards. However, some of us can’t wait that long and have already started thinking about potential nominees and contenders across all categories.

That includes below-the-line categories, however, as well as the obvious above-the-line ones. And so many of the below-the-line categories are made up of technical areas — Cinematography, Editing, Sound, and Visual Effects. That is four nominations that any one film could collect all in one go as so many have done before this year, such as “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” “Gravity,” “The Revenant,” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.” With that in mind, let’s take a look...

The BBC’s main primetime news presenter Huw Edwards and his family are receiving advice from former News of the World tabloid editor Andy Coulson, The Guardian reports.

The paper states that Edwards’ wife Vicky Flind – herself a TV producer – consulted Coulson before issuing her statement identifying her husband on Wednesday evening.

The presenter is currently in hospital, according to his wife, following allegations that he had paid £35,000 for inappropriate pictures from a teenage user of crack cocaine.

Coulson runs a PR agency specialising in crisis management. He previously edited News of the World between 2003 and 2007, and went on to become then-prime minister David Cameron’s director communications. He was jailed in 2014 for hacking offences.

His support for Edwards puts him in opposition to his former boss, Rupert Murdoch, boss of News UK and owner of The Sun newspaper, which first published the allegations but is facing backlash in some quarters,...

Universal City, California – Continuing its theatrical run, the charming comedy starring Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Hanks, Focus Features’ Asteroid City is available tomorrow, July 11, 2023 to buy or rent at home on digital platforms nationwide from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Packed with humor, an eclectic cast of characters, and an extraordinary alien encounter, the film marks the return of seven-time Oscar® nominated writer and director Wes Anderson and his signature unique visual style.

A “delightfully profound desert charmer” (Indiewire) that “packs a punch with its ensemble cast” (Slash Film), Asteroid City showcases a star-studded, critically acclaimed supporting cast alongside Schwartzman, Johansson, and Hanks, including Jeffrey Wright, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Stephen Park, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Steve Carell, Matt Dillon, Hong Chau, Willem Dafoe, Margot Robbie, Tony Revolori, Jake Ryan and Jeff Goldblum.

A fictional American desert town, circa 1955. Junior Stargazers...

Finally, some real numbers to assess the value of PVOD play for studios. And it’s a revelation.

Top executives from Universal recently spoke at length to the New York Times, stating that the studio grossed $1 billion in less than three years (starting in July 2020). That’s when it began placing most of its films on PVOD after their third weekend (after 31 days if one opens to over $50 million).

Theatrical box office is reported daily; judging actual VOD revenue, to put it charitably, is a crapshoot. Premium Video on Demand (usually $19.99 for a 48-hour rental) and VOD can only be judged by their relative position on charts from platforms like iTunes, Vudu, and Google Play.

At IndieWire, we convey PVOD performance from the charts those three platforms provide on a weekly basis, but they provide only rankings with inconsistent metrics.

Beyond the interesting details in the Times story, the figures...