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Anyone who’s watched television in the past 50 years is likely familiar with the work of Bruce Vilanch, the comedy writer who appeared on Hollywood Squares for four years, and co-wrote the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

One of Vilanch’s biggest contributions to the world of pop culture has been writing for the Academy Awards. After all, where would the Oscars be without one-liners and upbeat musical numbers about Titanic and Good Will Hunting?

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Vilanch began writing for the Oscars way back in 1989, and he eventually became the ceremony’s head writer from 2000 to 2014 — which means that he both began and ended his Oscars career with notoriously disastrous telecasts.

The ‘89 Oscars, as you may recall, found Rob Lowe and an actress dressed as Snow White murdering the legacy of Creedence Clearwater Revival, and arguably the medium of music in general.

Meanwhile, in 2014, the hosting duties fell to Anne Hathaway and James Franco,...

Simple ‘race against time’ premises can be exciting. Especially if they are based on true stories. It adds a sort of authenticity to the experience while elevating the characters involved to epic, larger-than-life, status. Movies like Ron Howard’s “Thirteen Lives” did this with the rescuers responsible for saving the lives of a Thailand soccer team caught in a cave back in 2018. Or Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” which chronicled the true story of Aron Ralston, who had to amputate his arm in order to escape being trapped by a boulder in Utah back in 2003.

Continue reading ‘Last Breath’ Trailer: Woody Harrelson and Simu Liu Star in Deep Sea Survival Thriller at The Playlist.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have released the new trailer for A Minecraft Movie, which reveals Steve’s origin story and more. A new poster for the movie was also released.

Directed by Jared Hess and based on the best-selling video game of all time, the first-ever live-action adaptation stars Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers (Wednesday), Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Sebastian Eugene Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge.

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft; it’s essential to one’s survival! Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers), and Dawn (Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination.

To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected,...

There is a long history in theater of the "one man show," in which a single performer must hold the attention of the audience for the entire runtime. Sometimes they play more than one character, sometimes they play just one character, but they are always the focus. Over the years, cinema has created its own version of the one man show, where only one actor appears onscreen for the majority of the runtime. Occasionally we might hear someone offscreen or in voiceover or get a quick flashback with other actors, but for the vast majority of the movie, we're stuck looking at just one face. That takes some serious skill to pull off, no matter how good-looking the face might be. 

Here I've collected and ranked 10 of the best films featuring only one actor, ranging across the years and several different genres. I did not include comedy specials like Bo...

James Franco claimed he has redefined his life and priorities after sexual misconduct allegations derailed his Hollywood career.

The actor shared his journey of growth since the 2019 lawsuit and the end of his longtime friendship with Seth Rogen in an interview with Variety. The allegations, which centered around accusations by five women that Franco abused his influence as an acting teacher, led to a $2.235 million settlement in 2021 and spurred the actor to reassess his path.

“Being told you’re bad is painful,” Franco admitted, adding that this confrontation with his actions “is kind of what I needed to just stop going the way I was going.”

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Isolated from Hollywood during the Covid-19 lockdown, Franco, 46, found himself confronting his past behavior. “Whatever had been going on with me before, I had to change my whole way of life,...

James Franco is tucked away in the corner of a five-star hotel lobby on Rome’s Via Veneto, sipping an Americano coffee. Wearing a chocolate brown hoodie he proudly says he co-designed, the actor and filmmaker looks relaxed and flashes his signature smile.

He’s in the Eternal City for the Rome Film Festival launch of Italian director Claudio Giovannesi’s “Hey Joe.” In the gritty drama, Franco plays Dean, an alcoholic American WWII vet who winds up back in Naples in the early ’70s in search of a son he fathered there before absconding to New Jersey.

The film is his first to surface on the fest circuit since his career went on hiatus following a now-settled 2019 lawsuit alleging that he sexually exploited young women who took his acting class. As he sips his coffee, Franco and I agree that his character is looking for redemption. Could the same be said of Franco?...

It’s Halloween Week on Doctor Odyssey — but did our beloved love triangle bring us tricks, or treats?

Just like clockwork, our two favorite boys, Tristan and Max, butt heads in the beginning of the episode. This time, however, their beef doesn’t revolve around Avery. The pair spar first over Johnny Depp — Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow, to be specific — and then Neptune, when they twice turn up in matching Halloween Week costumes. (These two are so similar, we’re willing to jettison the idea of a throuple and root for a Max/Tristan couple!)

More from TVLine<em>Doctor Odyssey...

With the presidential race slowly approaching its end, Donald Trump recently decided that it would be an incredible idea to spend a day in the life of a minimum wage worker at McDonald’s. The BBC posted a video of the former president cooking up some tasty-looking fries to serve customers while even stating that he liked what he did. Trump also expressed his desire to return to an outlet of the fast-food restaurant and work again.

Stephen Colbert interviews Donald Trump on The Late Show | Credits: CBS

While this was an obvious attempt to give himself a boost in the election process against democrat Kamala Harris, multiple Hollywood celebrities and globally recognized public figures have had to work at McDonald’s at some point in their lives to earn a living. So, here are seven of the most well-known public figures who’ve gotten their hands dirty at a McDonald’s kitchen!

Danny Boyle is the Oscar-winning director who has brought his boundless energy, visual aplomb and wicked sense of humor to a number of genres, excelling at science fiction, horror, romance and comedy. He most recently achieved box office success with the musical fantasy “Yesterday” (2019). But how does it stand up to the rest of his filmography? Let’s take a look back at all 13 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1956 in Manchester, England, Boyle got his start in theater and television before making his movie debut with with the macabre thriller “Shallow Grave” (1994), made when he was 38-years-old. He became an art house darling with his second feature, “Trainspotting” (1996), a comedic drama about a group of Edinburg heroin addicts. With films as diverse as the zombie chiller “28 Days Later” (2003), the children’s fantasy “Millions” (2004) and the sci-fi epic “Sunshine” (2007), he established his distinctive style of bright colors,...

Hollywood star James Franco, celebrated for his performances in films like 127 Hours, often finds himself in the spotlight not only for his on-screen performances but also for his turbulent romantic life. The Oscar-nominated actor has been in a long-term relationship with actress-director, Izabel Pakzad.

James Franco | Credit: Bridget Laudien/Cca By-Sa 4.0/Wikimedia Commons

However, his name has frequently been linked with several high-profile stars previously. Some of the most notable names in his romantic history also include the Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke and the Friends actress Marla Sokoloff, placing him almost on par with Hollywood’s Leonardo DiCaprio, who also remains single into his 40s.

James Franco’s Star-Studded Romantic History

Hollywood star James Franco has been quite successful in his on-screen endeavors. However, the actor has also been surrounded by several controversies, even admitting his past infidelities before settling into his current relationship with actress Izabel Pakzad.

Watch the funny first trailer for A Minecraft Movie starring Jason Momoa and Jack Black. Directed by Jared Hess, the movie is the first-ever big screen, live-action adaptation of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.

The film also stars Emma Myers (“Wednesday”), Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks (“The Color Purple”), Sebastian Eugene Hansen, with Jennifer Coolidge.

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft, it’s essential to one’s survival! Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers) and Dawn (Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Black).

Together, their adventure will challenge all five...

Video game movies with a prominent storyline don’t often transfer to the big screen in a way that can live up to its source material. The movie Borderlands is a recent example. However, with a game like Minecraft, in which the whole thing is a sandbox of which the player can make anything they want, the possibilities can be endless for how a movie adapts the property. Get a peek at how things unfold in the new trailer for A Minecraft Movie.

From Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures and starring Jason Momoa and Jack Black, A Minecraft Movie, directed by Jared Hess, is the first-ever big-screen, live-action adaptation of Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time. The film also stars Emma Myers (Wednesday), Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Sebastian Eugene Hansen, with Jennifer Coolidge.

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft,...

Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures unveiled the first teaser trailer for the “Minecraft” movie on Wednesday, offering a peek at the highly anticipated video game adaptation. The live-action cast includes Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen and Emma Myers, but it’s likely the animated “Minecraft” figures that fans of the game are most excited to see in action.

The story follows four misfits — Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers) and Dawn (Brooks) — who find themselves pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination. Per the official synopsis, “To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Black). Together, their adventure will challenge all five to be bold and to reconnect with the qualities that make each of them uniquely creative...

Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures have revealed the official teaser trailer and poster for the Minecraft movie, directed by Jared Hess and based on the best-selling video game of all time.

The first-ever live-action adaptation stars Jason Momoa, Jack Black, Emma Myers (Wednesday), Oscar nominee Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Sebastian Eugene Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge.

Welcome to the world of Minecraft, where creativity doesn’t just help you craft; it’s essential to one’s survival! Four misfits—Garrett “The Garbage Man” Garrison (Momoa), Henry (Hansen), Natalie (Myers), and Dawn (Brooks)—find themselves struggling with ordinary problems when they are suddenly pulled through a mysterious portal into the Overworld: a bizarre, cubic wonderland that thrives on imagination.

To get back home, they’ll have to master this world while embarking on a magical quest with an unexpected, expert crafter, Steve (Black).

Together, their adventure will challenge all five...

Although somewhat tame by today’s standards, when Monty Python’s Life of Brian was released in 1979, it was considered to be among the most offensive — and blasphemous — films ever made. While no strangers to controversy, Monty Python faced a backlash like never before with their third film, in which they relentlessly mocked organized religion via a biblical epic parody about a man named Brian who is mistaken for the messiah just because he’s Jesus’ neighbor.

Forty-five years after its initial release, Life of Brian is still regarded as a classic, and many consider it to be the best, most sophisticated work the Pythons ever did. Here’s how it all came about, how angry it made everybody and why it’s stood the test of time…

45 Jesus Christ: Lust for Glory

Life of Brian was first conceived when the Pythons were on the publicity tour for Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

While the boatloads of memes have ensured that Spider-Man 3 still remains relevant in the pop culture zeitgeist, in a vacuum, the threequel doesn’t hold a candle to its two predecessors. But while emo Pete rubbed fans the wrong way upon the movie’s initial release, it was James Franco’s Harry, aka Green Goblin Jr., that was the most disappointing aspect of the movie.

James Franco in Spider-Man 3 | Columbia Pictures

Not only his two movies’ worth of development was shelved to the corner to make room for more villains, but Franco’s performance didn’t exactly fit the tone of the movie they were going for. However, despite the shortcomings, the goofiness embedded within the movie ensures an enjoyable experience for viewers, which can’t be said for Franco’s critically acclaimed 127 Hours.

127 Hours Proved To Be Overwhelming for Viewers James Franco in 127 Hours...

James Franco’s Method Acting Annoyed Tyrese Gibson. (Photo Credit – Instagram)

James Franco’s method of acting annoyed his co-star Tyrese Gibson to the degree that the latter vowed never to work with the 127 Hours actor again. They starred in the 2006 film Annapolis. In 2007, Tyrese Gibson told Playboy of his feud with James Franco after clashing on the set over Franco’s method of acting, which left him hurt.

James Franco’s acting skills have earned immense praise, even winning him an Oscar in 2011 for 127 Hours. However, the actor has been labeled a magnet for controversy and isn’t particularly easy to work with. His co-star in the 2006 film Annapolis opened up about the difficulty in shooting scenes with Franco, who took his method acting too far.

In a 2007 interview with Elle, Tyrese Gibson recalled how the action scenes with his Annapolis co-star James Franco went too far...

“Inside Out 2” roared into cinema in June, becoming Pixar’s highest-grossing film in a debut weekend of all time, while its current worldwide haul at this time of writing stands at just over one billion.

The first movie — one of the most ingenious films of this century — took audiences inside the head of young Riley as she navigated a move to a new city while her emotions tried to guide her through the move in her head. This second film brings back those emotions as Riley goes through her teenage years. But Joy and Sadness and the gang have to deal with several new emotions in headquarters, including Anxiety, Embarrassment, and Ennui.

But while the film marches towards $1 billion at the box office, could it also be marching towards awards glory? Well, animated flicks don’t get the justice they deserve when it comes to the Academy Awards. So often,...

Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movie series is expanding with another installment after the grand success of the third movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was the ultimate treat for Marvel fans. Now, the upcoming Spider-Man movie, as speculation dictates, is going to be more grounded with a bit of multiversal touch.

Tom Holland stars as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in Columbia Pictures’ Spider-man: No Way Home.

If not multiversal, Spider-Man might go to its classic root, to its classic villains— Norman and Harry Osborn. New speculation recently suggested that fans could see Dune star Timothée Chalamet making his Spider-Man debut playing a villainous Harry Osborn and in this case, Kevin Feige might hire one MCU star again, this time for the role of Norman Osborn.

Potential Cast For Spider-Man 4

Timothée Chalamet in a still from Dune: Part One. Credit: Marvel Studios

While there has not been much official information regarding...

Exclusive: We can tell you that James Franco and Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones are leading the action thriller The Razor’s Edge from producer Corey Large and filmmaker Demian Lichtenstein (3000 Miles to Graceland).

Red Sea Media is handling international sales and will debut the film for buyers at the upcoming Marche du Film in Cannes. Cameras roll June 25 in Georgia.

Lichenstein is helming off a screenplay he wrote with Vance Duplechin. After a mob hitman vows to leave his deadly past behind, he faces an impossible choice when his daughter is kidnapped and the woman he loves becomes a target of the syndicate. He is forced to undertake one final, perilous mission while being pursued by an assassin even more lethal.

Pic is executive produced by Kirk Shaw. BondIt Media Capital is financing with Matthew Helderman, Luke Taylor and Jordan Nott also executive producing.

“I’m excited that we have signed the superbly talented actors James, Suki and Tommy Lee to bring The Razor’s Edge to the big screen. They are perfectly suited to embody the protagonists in director Demian’s script,” said Large. “We cannot wait to begin filming this taut thriller next month with an assist from our seasoned executive producer Kirk,” he added.

“We’ve worked with Corey on over a dozen projects throughout the years and always appreciate his ability to get projects made in many different industry climates. We’re excited for another adventure here with Corey and his team,” commented Bond It Capital co-founder CEO Matthew Helderman.

Large is producing through his 308 Enterprises. His other feature production, Assassination directed by Rain Man Oscar winner Barry Levinson and starring Academy Award-winner Al Pacino and BAFTA winning Shia Labeouf is shooting this fall.

Franco was Oscar nominated for Best Actor for 127 Hours and is a 2x Golden Globe winner for James Dean, in which he played the title role, and took home Best Actor in Miniseries, and for The Disaster Artist which he won Best Actor Feature Comedy/Musical. He starred in Sony’s original Spider-Man trilogy from Sam Rami.

Oscar, Emmy, SAG, Golden Globe, and Palme d’Or winner Jones counts an Oscar and Golden Globe supporting actor win for The Fugitive and starred in Sony’s Men in Black trilogy. Jones won a Lead Actor Emmy for NBC’s The Executioners’ Song, and a Cannes Palme D’Or for Best Actor for Sony Pictures Classics’ The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada which he also directed. He also directed The Homesman which starred Hilary Swank.

Franco is represented by UTA and Anonymous Content, Jones is represented by CAA and Jacobson, Russell, Saltz, Nassim & De La Torre.

Yesterday, all their troubles seemed so far away.

In 2022, Peter Rosza and Conor Woulfe sued Universal Pictures after they rented the 2019 movie “Yesterday” on Amazon Prime Video and subsequently felt they had been bamboozled by the trailer. The film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by Richard Curtis, is a zany musical fantasy in which Himesh Patel, a struggling musician, is bonked on the head and wakes up in a world in which The Beatles Never Happened. As such, he starts playing their songs as if they are his own and the movie follows the expected Preston Sturges-like tropes you might expect.

The trailer for the movie featured quite a few glimpses of the alluring Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas, later Oscar-nominated for her leading turn in “Blonde,” who ended up not being in the movie at all. An early cut included her character, but that storyline was shaved down after the movie tested poorly.

James Franco is an Oscar-nominated actor-director who has had his share of up-and-downs, controversies and good graces, but through it all has always remained an interesting presence in front of and behind the camera. Take a look back at 16 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born on April 19, 1978, Franco has developed a pretty notable resume since he first came to audience’s attention on the low rated but highly acclaimed TV series “Freaks and Geeks.” A year after that NBC show ended, Franco found fame in a highly praised TV biography of James Dean for which he won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy award. That success led him to a film career which has run the gamut from superhero blockbusters to Oscar nominated prestige films.

It hasn’t all been a smooth ride for Franco though. In 2010 he should have been at the peak...

The Dolby Theater in Hollywood is ready to host the celebrities this year at the 96th Academy Awards on Sunday. A total of ten films are nominated for the Best Picture category. The films in the current nomination list include American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things, and The Zone of Interest. Fans already have certain favorites to win the Best Picture and anything other than that will surely cause a social media meltdown.

Best Picture nominees at the 96th Academy Awards

Some of the previous Oscar favorites have failed to secure the award, and the voting body picked other surprising entries from the list. There are at least 5 such cases of Academy voters opting for the second-best (or the third or even the worst) movies for the Best Picture Award.

Shakespeare In Love (71st Academy Awards)

Who should have won?...

Selected by Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro as the best new horror book of last year, Daniel Kraus’ Whalefall is now getting a big screen movie adaptation.

Brian Duffield is on board to co-write and direct the movie adaptation of Kraus’ novel, Deadline reports this afternoon.

20th Century Studios has snapped up the distribution rights to the Imagine Entertainment film, and Deadline additionally notes that Kraus will co-write the screenplay with Duffield.

The book is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours.

The storyline follows “a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains who gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. It’s a tale about a young man who has given up on life — only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.”

Brian Grazer,...

It’s an interesting month on HBO and Max this March, as two acclaimed films hit the streamer along with some intriguing original programming.

First up in the movies arena is the streaming debut of Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. From beloved Paddington director Paul King, the film follows the adventures of a young Willy Wonka as he looks to become the world’s best (and weirdest) chocolatier. Later in March on Max, there’s also Dream Scenario, a highly-regarded comedy boasting Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, who suddenly starts appearing in people’s dreams for unknown reasons, and who naturally becomes very famous as a result of this strange phenomena.

Series-wise, the biggest show on Max this month is The Regime. It packs a solid cast, including Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Martha Plimpton, and Hugh Grant, and tells the story of “life within the walls of a modern...

With a premiere-heavy March ahead at HBO, there will be plenty to stream this month on Max!

The first Sunday of March brings the premiere of HBO’s new six-episode limited series “The Regime,” starring HBO alum Kate Winslet. Throughout the rest of the month, don’t rest on the streamer’s long list of library additions, like the recent musical origin story “Wonka” or A24’s sleeper hit (so to speak) “Dream Scenario”; and be sure some of the HBO’s biggest premieres, including “The Girls on the Bus” starring Melissa Benoist and Ramy Youssef’s “More Feelings” make it onto your calendar.

Plus, there’s no March without March Madness! For the first time, Max will stream all of the 2024 [NCAA] Division Men’s Basketball Championship live games and studio coverage airing on TBS, TNT, and truTV, including the NCAA Men’s Final Four National Semifinals and Men’s National Championship.

No two people feels the exact same way about any film. Thus, Team Experience is pairing up to debate the merits of this year’s Oscar movies. Here’s Eric Blume and Cláudio Alves on Society of the Snow...

Eric: Hi Cláudio, there are few finer, smarter people to discuss a film with than you. So I'm looking forward to diving into J.A. Bayona's Oscar-nominated Society of the Snow. To me, Bayona has delivered one of the best films ever in the "survival genre," a tiny slice of cinema that admittedly isn't for everyone. And perhaps I'm a sucker for these tales, as I also loved the best most recent example, Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, as well. But what I feel Bayona accomplished here, and it's no small feat, is a one hundred percent believable environment where he gets his actors to a level of despair and desperation very,...

Matthias Schoenaerts and Kate Winslet in ‘The Regime’ (Photograph by Miya Mizuno/HBO)

Max’s March 2024 streaming lineup includes the premiere of The Regime starring Oscar winner Kate Winslet as a paranoid chancellor with major control issues. The streaming service’s March slate also includes the debut of The Girls on the Bus starring Melissa Benoist, Carla Gugino, Natasha Behnam, and Christina Elmore as political journalists.

Documentaries A Revolution on Canvas and The Lionheart along with the comedy docuseries Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show will premiere in March 2024. And Wonka and Dream Scenario make their streaming debuts.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In March 2024

March 1

127 Hours (2010)

Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015)

Baby Mama (2008)

The Ballad of Lefty Brown (2017)

The Best Man Holiday (2013)

Bullet Head (2018)

Cabaret (1972)

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Deadpool (2016)

Dear White People (2014)

Dope (2015)

The Expendables (2010)

The Expendables 2 (2012)

The Expendables 3 (2014)

The Farewell (2019)

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Godzilla...

Oscar-winning writer Simon Beaufoy – behind “Slumdog Millionaire,” “127 Hours” or “The Full Monty” – has joined “S.O.L.”

The six-episode thriller, presented at Berlinale’s Co-Pro Series and developed with TV4, is produced by Warp Films (UK) and Rainy Days (Sweden). It was created by Ruth McCance. Diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer, she died in December, aged 53.

“Ruth had written a pilot episode script and outlines for the remaining five episodes,” explained producer Peter Carlton.

“It had always been our intention to bring on another writer to work alongside her. When we knew Ruth was dying, we spoke about the future of the project. We felt we would like to complete the work she had started in her honor and for her kids.”

“With her blessing, we are doing just that. We were able to tell her it had been selected for Berlinale.”

Beaufoy was an “obvious first choice,” Carlton stated.

NCIS: Hawai’i paid tribute to William ‘Kono’ Dahlin on Monday’s (February 12) Season 3 premiere in a closing credits title card, and many viewers are wondering who he is. The popular CBS police procedural, which had been delayed five months due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, closed out its third season premiere with a title card that read, “In loving memory of William ‘Kono’ Dahlin,” alongside a picture of the man himself. So, who was Dahlin? Well, he was credited as an actor and additional crew member on NCIS: Hawai’i. He’d been working on the show for the past two years, primarily as a background extra. Born on March 25, 1974, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Dahlin’s previous credits included Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he starred in a 2006 sketch about former President Bill Clinton, and the 2019 short film Mailboxes. He also worked as a production intern on the movies 127 Hours (2010) and...

28 Years Later, the hot package from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, has landed at Sony.

The Culver City-based studio has come out on top after a protracted bidding war to win the rights to the sequel package to the 2002 horror classic 28 Days Later.

Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have reunited to write and direct the sequel, which also comes with a Part 2, to be written by Garland. Boyle would only direct the first project, with the sequel’s director to be determined at a later stage. Cillian Murphy, whose career was launched thanks to the original movie, is also returning as an executive producer. The Oppenheimer star could also possibly act in the project, although details are being quarantined.

WME, which reps Boyle and Garland, took the package out to the Hollywood studios and streamers almost three weeks ago, generating immediate interest and intense wooing.

[Editor’s Note: Tubefilter Charts is a weekly rankings column from Tubefilter with data provided by GospelStats. It’s exactly what it sounds like: a top number ranking of YouTube channels based on statistics collected within a given time frame. Check out all of our Tubefilter Charts with new installments every week right here.]

Scroll down for this week’s Tubefilter Chart.

January has been an interesting month as far as our Global Top 50 is concerned. For the third time in four weeks, there’s a new #1 in our ranking of the most-watched YouTube channels in the world.

Like so many channels in the Top 50, this week’s #1 is known for short-form videos rather than long-form uploads.

Chart Toppers

Welcome to the top spot, ToRung. The Vietnamese comedian has been rising steadily in our charts over the past two months. He appeared on our radar in December, when he used videos with suggestive thumbnails to make his first top-ten appearance in the Global Top 50. Since then,...

Former U.S. treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has added to his stake in Lionsgate, which now totals nearly $50 million, including last year’s purchases.

In a securities filing Thursday, an equity fund controlled by Mnuchin disclosed a 7.9 percent stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.’s Class A voting shares. That’s a step up from the 5.5 percent holding in the Hollywood studio first acquired by Mnuchin’s fund in fall 2023 for about $30.8 million.

A Lionsgate spokesperson declined comment on Mnuchin’s latest stock accumulation, part of share purchases revealed in the regulatory filing by Liberty Strategic Capital, a private equity fund led by Mnuchin and which has no ties to John Malone’s Liberty Global.

Mnuchin raising his stake in Lionsgate comes as the major studio presses ahead with plans to separate its TV production and Motion Picture Group divisions and a 20,000-title film and TV library from Starz. Lionsgate...

Just over two decades after unleashing a zombie epidemic, modern horror classic 28 Days Later is getting a new sequel. Maybe even a trilogy of sequels.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, the director and writer of the 2002 movie, are reuniting for 28 Years Later, a new zombie thriller that is expected to hit studios, streamers and other potential buyers later this week, according to multiple sources. WME, which reps Boyle and Garland, will take out the package and handle the sale.

The package isn’t just a simple modern sequel installment; the movie already had a follow-up with 28 Weeks Later, released in 2007. The duo were only involved with as executive producers on that film. Now, the hope is to launch a new trilogy.

Boyle is attached to direct the first installment. Garland would write all three. The budget for each movie would be in the $75 million range.

The pair would also produce,...

J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow is a terrifying yet hopeful tale of survival based on the book of the same name about the survivors of the 1972 Uruguayan Flight 571 plane crash in the Andes. This isn’t the first time a film has been made on this story, yet the 50-year-old tale somehow remains relevant today. What Bayona excels at is eliciting a certain harrowing, and simultaneously optimistic feeling within the viewer that perhaps no other filmmaker can do as well. Society of the Snow may be familiar in its story, but there’s something very new to the way it’s been presented, and on a second watch, it struck me how this could’ve been so tedious and disturbing to watch, but it’s simply a humanistic film. What makes Society of the Snow so compelling is its subtle dialogue and compact camera angles that make us feel for all the characters.

Andrea Scarso, a well-established entertainment financier who previously worked at Ingenious Media, has joined the fund management company Ipr.Vc.

Ipr.Vc has just raised nearly €100 million ($109 million) in its third funding round and will be investing further in content under the leadership of Scarso, who is joining the banner as partner and investment director.

The company, launched in 2015 and based in Finland, has so far raised €150 million from a broad range of investors. Half of the funds have already been allocated to 35 film and TV productions in Europe and the U.S.

Ipr.Vc initially focused its investment on Nordic scripted projects, including the Netflix hit series “Bordertown,” and went on to establish strategic partnerships with U.S. and international banners such as A24, XYZ Films and the animation studio Gigglebug.

Based in the company’s London office, Scarso has a long experience in media and entertainment financing, including the sourcing and evaluating of projects,...

Company has slate wide partnerships with US and European producers including A24, XYZ Films and Gigglebug.

Fund management company Ipr.Vc Management – which has invested in slates by A24 and XYZ Films - says it has raised the majority of a targeted €100m for its latest film and television production financing fund.

The Finnish based company has also hired former Ignenious Media senior investment director Andrea Scarso as a partner and investment director who will be based in its London office.

Ipr.Vc has to date raised €150 million from institutional investors, pension funds, family offices and non-profit sector investors through three...

Exclusive: James Franco is starring in a Middle Eastern TV crime drama penned by Shades of Blue creator Adi Hasak. Check out a teaser below.

Alongside a cast of actors who hail from the Mena region, the Oscar-nominated 127 Hours star recently wrapped on Karantina, which is being shopped for the first time at Mipcom Cannes this week. Hasak told Deadline he hopes the “gamechanger” crime drama will “do for Mena what Fauda did for Israel and Squid Game did for Korea.”

Based on the German series Tempel, Franco plays an American laying low from the FBI in Beirut who has opened a club called the Miami Rainbow Club, a “taste of Americana,” according to Hasak.

The show’s lead is Yaqoub Al Farhan as Dahab, who is released from jail and promises his paraplegic wife and teenage daughter that he will never return to a world of crime, instead...

This article contains spoilers for The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon episode 1.

Naturally, Darly Dixon himself (Norman Reedus) is the main character of the latest Walking Dead spinoff, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. But that doesn’t mean our eponymous hero has to endure the ravages of post-apocalyptic France alone.

The supporting cast of Daryl Dixon is headlined by Clémence Poésy playing Isabelle: a nun with a mysterious past. The French actress has enjoyed a vibrant career in both modeling and acting, with major roles in projects such as In Bruges, 127 Hours, Tenet, and countless other French and English-language productions. To the millennials among us (Hello! And sorry!), however, Poésy will forever be known as Triwizard Tournament contestant Fleur Delacour in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Though she never really went away, Poésy popping back up in a pop cultural powerhouse like The Walking Dead gives us...

Exclusive: Primetime Emmy nominee Kate Mara has joined Laurence Fishburne in the sci-fi thriller, The Astronaut. Terminator: Dark Fate actor Gabriel Luna has also joined the cast.

Jess Varley (Phobias) makes her solo writing and directorial debut.

Cameras are set to roll this October in Ireland under an interim SAG-AFTRA agreement.

The Astronaut is produced by Fuller Media’s Brad Fuller and Cameron Fuller, alongside Wonder Company’s Eric B. Fleischman (J.D. Dillard’s Sleight) and Chris Abernathy (Barbarian).

Highland Film Group is repping foreign rights to the pic here at TIFF. CAA Media Finance and the UTA Independent Film Group are co-repping domestic rights.

Gabriel Luna

In the pic, astronaut Sam Walker (Mara) returns from her first space mission. She’s found miraculously alive in a punctured capsule floating deep off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

Animated flicks don’t get the justice they deserve when it comes to the Academy Awards. So often, animated movies are some of the most original, memorable, and well-told stories of the entire year yet they are, more often than not, confined to the category of Best Animated Picture.

“Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” “Fantasia,” “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” “The Lion King,” “Toy Story,” “Finding Nemo,” “Wall-e,” “Shrek,” and last year’s Best Animated Picture winner, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” are just a handful of all-time classic movies that aren’t great animated movies, they are great movies period. Despite this, however, we have only had three animated movies in Oscars history that have been nominated for Best Picture.

“Beauty and the Beast” was the first animated movie to do so, landing a Best Picture bid in 1991. Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, “Beauty and the Beast...

Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears to be pursuing a return to the film business.

In a securities filing Tuesday, a fund controlled by Mnuchin disclosed a 5.5 percent stake in Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.’s Class A voting shares. Mnuchin’s fund acquired the stake in the parent company of Lionsgate and Starz on the open market over the past few weeks for about $30.8 million.

A Lionsgate spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for Mnuchin had not responded to a request for comment, as of writing.

According to the SEC filing, Mnuchin appears to have a particular interest in the plan to spin out its studio assets, which is now set for early 2024 given the ongoing Hollywood strikes. The filing specifically mentions a “potential investment by the Reporting Persons in a spin-off of the Issuer’s studio business.”

“Consistent with the Reporting Persons’ investment purposes, they may engage in communications with,...

The Dive is a survival thriller movie directed by Maximilian Erlenwein, who also worked on the screenplay with Joachim Hedén. The survival movie follows the story of two sisters, who go diving at a beautiful but remote location. One of the sisters gets trapped by a rock 28 meters below. The Dive stars Louisa Krause and Sophia Lowe in the lead roles and if you loved the film here are some similar movies you could watch next.

47 Meters Down (Starz & Prime Video Add-On) Credit – Dimension Films

Synopsis: Sisters Lisa and Kate become trapped at the bottom of the ocean when a diving expedition to observe sharks goes horribly wrong. When the cable attaching the cage sinks to the bottom of the ocean, the sisters must figure out a way to get back to safety battling injuries, lack of oxygen, and worst of all, bloodthirsty, great white sharks.

The Shallows (Tubi & Rent...

In the unforgiving terrain of survival thrillers, where humanity’s endurance is stretched to its limits, director and writer Maximilian Erlenwein’s The Dive ventures into treacherous waters with a mixture of commendable ambition and palpable shortcomings. While it treads the same waters as gripping classics like 127 Hours and 47 Meters Down, this tale of two sisters trapped in the cold embrace of the ocean falls somewhat short of making a lasting impact, often finding itself gasping for air. With a mixed bag of performances, a screenplay that occasionally springs leaks, and a submerged urgency that fails to fully surface, The Dive finds itself navigating the uncertain waters between tension and missed opportunities.

The film commences with a promise, painting a scenic yet foreboding picture of two sisters, May and Drew, venturing out for a diving expedition along Malta’s picturesque coastline. As the siblings embark on this ill-fated escapade,...

From “Gravity ” and “Wild” to “The Way Back” and “Jaws,” the most compelling survival movies fearlessly examine characters’ will to live, imbuing their perilous struggles with the intensely personal motivations and desires that make every person unique. These stories allow audiences to consider what specific obstacles along one person’s quest for survival and happiness say about humanity writ large. What’s more, they challenge viewers to look inward and consider what truly matters when the chips are down.

The best survival films immerse viewers in life-or-death scenarios, balancing realism and believability with slow-burn suspense. Even in lighter survival fare, such as “Swiss Family Robinson,” filmmakers have to keep up the pace and pressure to deliver the subgenre’s characteristic urgency. Sure, “Cast Away,” “The Revenant,” and epic sagas like them are sweeping in scope with the lengthy running times to match. But survival stories work best when every frame...

One briny-deep thriller that does not have sharks, other aquatic predators or even human ones, German director Max Erlenwein’s English-language “The Dive” manages to work up considerable tension nonetheless. It’s closer in gist to “127 Hours” than most other underwater suspense films, hinging on a similar type of physical entrapment — only the survivable timespan here is of course much reduced, because the imperiled characters have a limited oxygen supply.

While perhaps not quite striking enough in style or incident to leave a lasting impression, this very well-crafted remake of co-writer Joachim Heden’s 2020 Norwegian feature “Breaking Surface” should particularly impress with its underwater photography on the big screen. Most viewers, however, are likely to catch it via home formats, as Rlje Films releases the film day-and-date to digital and theater screens on Aug. 25.

May (Louisa Krause) and younger sister Drew (Sophie Lowe) are tangibly at an awkward point in their relationship,...

An race against the clock offers plenty of adrenaline-filled moments, but a weak backstory drains the tension

This survival thriller puts an underwater twist on 127 Hours, the Danny Boyle movie in which James Franco’s arm gets wedged in a boulder while he’s out hiking. Here, the limb-stuck-in-rock predicament is 30-odd meters below sea level, with an American diver who traps her leg off the coast of Malta. (Plot spoiler: no DIY surgery is involved.) What follows is a race against the clock, cleverly constructed by director Maximilian Erlenwein and co-writer Joachim Hedén. Their script throws in plenty of calamities to nobble the diver’s escape, but didn’t quite manage – for me at least – to spark a vertiginous clammy terror.

Sophie Lowe and Louisa Krause play sisters Drew and May, driving out to dive in a hire car. Clearly, there’s unspoken conflict between the two. May...

If you need an added incentive to read one of the summer’s most anticipated novels, Whalefall, here’s another: Deadline reports that an adaptation for best-selling author Daniel Kraus‘ novel is in the works.

The outlet reports that Imagine Entertainment has struck a pre-emptive film rights deal for Whalefall, which is scheduled to publish on August 8 by MTV Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The novel’s plot follows “a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains who gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. It’s a tale about a young man who has given up on life — only to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places.”

The book is described as The Martian meets 127 Hours. Though, if you ask me, getting swallowed by...

Screenshot: Hulu

The seasonal sci-fi favorite Independence Day, the award-winning Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, and the recent theatrical release The Bob’s Burgers Movie are just three of the many notable movies premiering on the Hulu streaming service in July. There’s also the fantasy-action-comedy The Princess (pictured), an original Hulu film starring Joey King,...

"You have to go to the surface and call for help!" Rlje Films has revealed the trailer for an underwater survival thriller titled The Dive, from German filmmaker Maximilian Erlenwein. This is actually a remake of a Scandinavian film called Breaking Surface, which has the same plot except in Norway. In this new one, two sisters go diving at a beautiful, remote location. One is struck by a rock underwater from a landslide, leaving her trapped 28 meters below. With dangerously low levels of oxygen and cold temperatures at these depths, it is up to her sister to save her – Drew must make life-and-death decisions with no outside help in sight... The thriller stars Sophie Lowe as Drew and Louisa Krause as May – the one trapped. This looks super scary! Especially for anyone afraid of deep water. This trailer plays like 127 Hours, but underwater. If you're already nervous of Scuba diving,...