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Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis star in director James L. Brooks’ comeback movie, titled Ella McCay. The film, with a recent trailer release, looks iconic, and the comedy is as good as it can get.

Following her fame from S*x Education and Death on the Nile, Emma Mackey takes the center stage in this comedy/drama movie about how even families can get too much sometimes.

Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis portrays the role of Aunt Helen and stands by Mackey’s side throughout the movie as a constant support platform with tons of comedy and equal amounts of serious family drama that intertwines.

Check out the trailer for Ella McCay below:

Alongside the star-studded lead actors, several Oscar-winning actors and nominees like Woody Harrelson, Albert Brooks, and Kumail Nanjiani also join the two in carrying the film forward with some iconic acting and their comedy skills.

Ella McCay Is James L.

20th Century Studios has unveiled the first official trailer for ‘Ella McCay,’ the latest film from legendary filmmaker James L. Brooks — the Oscar® and Emmy Award®-winning writer-director behind ‘Broadcast News,’ ‘Terms of Endearment,’ and ‘As Good As It Gets.’

Led by rising star Emma Mackey, the movie centres on an idealistic young woman caught in the whirlwind of political ambition, family chaos, and personal growth. As she navigates her rising career and a complicated personal life, Ella must learn what it truly means to serve — not just the public, but the people closest to her.

The trailer offers a vibrant, witty, and emotionally grounded first look at the film, teasing a smart and soulful comedy about love, legacy, and learning how to keep it all together.

Brooks assembles a stellar ensemble to bring the world of ‘Ella McCay’ to life, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri,...

El director de ‘Mejor… imposible’ firma su primer largometraje en quince años. © 20th Century Studios

Ya se ha desvelado el primer tráiler y póster de la película Ella McCay, escrita y dirigida por James L. Brooks, uno de los nombres más influyentes de la comedia dramática hollywoodense.

En Ella McCay, una joven política idealista hace malabarismos con sus problemas familiares y su difícil vida laboral mientras se prepara para ocupar el puesto de su mentor, el gobernador en funciones del estado desde hace años.

La película, una comedia sobre las personas que amas y cómo sobrevivir a ellas, reúne a un reparto de lujo que incluye a Emma Mackey (Barbie), Jamie Lee Curtis (La noche de Halloween), Jack Lowden (Slow Horses), Kumail Nanjiani (La gran enfermedad del amor), Ayo Edebiri (The Bear), Spike Fearn (Alien: Romulus), Rebecca Hall (The Studio), Julie Kavner (Los Simpson), Becky Ann Baker (Jackpot!), Joey Brooks...

Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis are both actors who know a thing or two about navigating toxic families in their work. Mackey deals with a trauma-stricken, alcoholic mother as Sex Education's Maeve Wiley; Jlc is a trauma-stricken, alcoholic mother in Disney+ 'comedy' The Bear. And if the first trailer for James L. Brooks' upcoming Ella McCay — a comedy about a lawyer (Mackey) struggling to balance her personal and professional life — is anything to go by, then it looks like the filmmaker's first movie since How Do You Know? some 15 years ago will see the duo dealing with another effed-up family — albeit with space for a good few laughs along the way. Check it out below;

Marge Simpson on narration? Woody Harrelson as the estranged father of Mackey's McCay? Jlc and Mackey having a straight-up scream off as on-screen auntie and niece? Okay, count us in — this certainly looks to...

The new movie Ella McCay is being released in theaters over the holiday season and the first trailer has arrived!

Emma Mackey stars as the title character, an idealistic young woman who juggles her family and work life in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.

Also starring in the movie are Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson.

Watch the trailer below!

Ella McCay was written and directed by three-time Oscar winner James L. Brooks, best known for classic movies like Terms of Endearment and As Good As It Gets, plus TV shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Taxi, and The Simpsons.

The movie hits theaters on December 12.

20th Century Studios has released the first trailer a for Ella McCay, written and directed by Oscar and Emmy winner James L. Brooks.

The film opens exclusively in theaters December 12, 2025. Emma Mackey stars as the titular character, an idealistic young woman who juggles her family and work life as a politician in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.

The clip opens with Julie Kavner’s character prefacing the story as its narrator.

“I’m here to provide facts about Ella McCay,” Kavner, who voices Marge in The Simpsons, says. “I’ve worked for her ever since she finished law school, so I’m not exactly neutral. I’m nuts about her.”

Cut to Mackey’s Ella stepping out of an escort car to talk to her aunt Helen, played by Jamie Lee Curtis,...

It's been 15 years since three-time Academy Award winner James L. Brooks directed a feature film, and now for the first time since 2010's How Do You Know, there's a new movie from the director of Terms of Endearment on the way.

The first trailer for Ella McCay, starring Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Woody Harrelson, has dropped, giving us our first look at the upcoming dramedy.

What's it about?

The film is centered around Ella (Mackey), who has just been elected governor but who is also still dealing with the family drama. In particular, there's her father (Harrelson), who has reentered her life with word of a new love in his life.

Who else is in it?

Backing Ella up is her aunt, played by Curtis. Also in the cast are Ayo Edebiri, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Hall (in what appears to be a relatively small role) and Broadcast News alum Albert Brooks.

In the fifteen interminably long years since James L. Brooks’ last directorial feature, the kind of adult-focused, warm dramas with recognizably emphatic characters that have defined his career have sadly fallen out of fashion. After staying busy helping emerging filmmakers like Kelly Fremon Craig realize their visions with the stellar The Edge of Seventeen and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, the 85-year-old filmmaker is now making his overdue return this year.

Ella McCay, a political comedy-drama set for a December 12 release, stars Emma Mackey, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Jack Lowden, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks, Albert Brooks, and Jamie Lee Curtis. Ahead of the release, the first trailer has now arrived.

Watch below.

The post James L. Brooks Finally Returns with First Trailer for Ella McCay first appeared on The Film Stage.

Whoever coined the proverb, “You can pick your friends but not your family,” was onto something. There’s no end to the aggravation family can cause, and Emma Mackey‘s Ella McCay is about to discover how difficult it is to get ahead when people you left behind pop back into your life. James L. Brooks returns to the director’s chair after a 15-year hiatus, with today’s Ella McCay trailer highlighting his latest effort for the silver screen.

Ella McCay stars Sex Education and Barbie actress Emma Mackey as Ella, a woman who’s fought for everything she’s achieved throughout her emotionally turbulent life as a lawyer turned political figure. Jamie Lee Curtis plays Ella’s supportive aunt, while Woody Harrelson plays Ella’s estranged father, who pops back into her life at the most inopportune time. Rebecca Hall plays Ella’s late mother, with Jack Lowden,...

"Ella – your father, your brother, and your husband... are a ticking time bomb in your life." Ha ha. 20th Century has revealed the first official trailer for Ella McCay, a new comedy about family arriving to watch in theaters in December later this year. This is the first film directed by James L. Brooks since he made How Do You Know way back in 2010 (which we covered for its release!). In Ella McCay, Emma Mackey stars as an idealistic young woman who juggles her family and work life. In a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them. She's taking over the job of her mentor, the state's longtime incumbent governor, and starting a whole new life. The ensemble cast features Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Joey Brooks, Becky Ann Baker, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson.

20th Century Studios has shared a first look at the new comedy Ella McCay, which is scheduled to open exclusively in theaters on December 12, 2025. The film has not yet been rated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

Ella McCay is written and directed by Oscar and Emmy Award winner James L. Brooks.

In the film, an idealistic young woman juggles her family and work life in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.

Ella McCay features an all-star cast including Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Becky Ann Baker, and Joey Brooks, with Albert Brooks and Woody Harrelson.

The film is produced by James L. Brooks, p.g.a., Richard Sakai, p.g.a., Julie Ansell, p.g.a., and Jennifer Brooks.

Principal photography for Ella McCay began in Rhode Island in February 2024, and...

James L. Brooks is finally back directing, exactly 15 years after his last film.

Brooks returns with “Ella McCay” after 2010’s “How Do You Know.” The Academy Award-winning writer/director helms the original film, which stars Emma Mackey as a lawyer spanning years of her life. Jamie Lee Curtis plays her supportive aunt, while Woody Harrelson is Ella’s (Mackey) wayward father, and Rebecca Hall is her late mother.

Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Spike Fearn, Julie Kavner, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks, and Albert Brooks also star.

The logline for “Ella McCay” reads: “An idealistic young woman juggles her family and work life in a comedy about the people you love and how to survive them.” The film is also set in 2008.

Brooks told The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted “Ella McCay” to capture the excitement of politics in the early 2000s. “The film is set in 2008, before we had this enormous division,...

As first reported by Collider, Celine Song has been tapped to write the script for a sequel to My Best Friend’s Wedding, the iconic romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and Dermot Mulroney.

The 1997 movie followed Julianne Potter (Roberts), a food critic who realizes she’s in love with her longtime best friend Michael after learning that he’s getting married. She sets out to sabotage the wedding, but as you might expect, her plans don’t quite go as planned. The film also starred Cameron Diaz and Rupert Everett. It was a big success, grossing nearly $300 million worldwide, and is regarded as one of the best rom-coms of the ’90s.

Just days ago, Mulroney teased that “there is talk of a sequel” while promoting his new Netflix series The Hunting Wives. “I know nothing about it,” he said. “Last I heard, quote, lawyers were talking, unquote.“

Related Julia Roberts picks...

Nearly four months after The Simpsons was renewed for four additional seasons and three months since the animated show last aired, Fox has announced when fans can expect the legendary family back on small screens. The most recent season of The Simpsons, Season 36, was broadcast from September 29, 2024, to May 18, 2025; however, before the finale, the sitcom was renewed through Season 40, with each installment comprising 15 episodes.

As part of this fall's schedule for Fox’s Animation Domination, The Simpsons will return with Season 37 on Sunday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m., according to TV Insider. Additionally, featured in the new season is an all-star guest list led by Succession’s Kieran Culkin, as announced during the show’s San Diego Comic-Con panel on Saturday, July 26. The network’s animated programming block will also see Universal Basic GuysSeason 2 air at 8:30 p.m. after The Simpsons. Krapopolis Season 3 and Bob’s Burgers Season 16 then follow at 9:00 p.

Jamie Lee Curtis is once again in the news, this time with exciting updates that promises to thrill longtime fans and newcomers alike. Fresh off the vibrant and heartfelt completion of Freakier Friday, Curtis is ready to dive back into the world of mystery and intrigue by rebooting the beloved classic Murder, She Wrote. With her unmistakable charm and stellar acting pedigree, she’s poised to breathe new life into the iconic role of Jessica Fletcher, setting the stage for a fresh chapter in a timeless detective story.

Jamie Lee Curtis: From Freakier Friday’s Red Carpet to the Detective’s Chair

Fresh off the star-studded world premiere of Freakier Friday, Jamie Lee Curtis has confirmed that her next major project will see her stepping into the iconic role of Jessica Fletcher in the highly anticipated Murder, She Wrote reboot. Speaking at the premiere event in Los Angeles, the Academy...

Jamie Lee Curtis is ready to solve some murders as the Oscar-winning actress confirms she will be starring in the much-anticipated Murder, She Wrote reboot. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet world premiere of Freakier Friday on Thursday (July 24), Curtis was asked if there was any truth to Deadline‘s report that Universal was working on a reboot of the beloved Angela Lansbury-starring crime series. “Oh, it’s happening,” Curtis confirmed. “We’re a minute away, but yeah, [I’m] very excited. Very excited. But I’m tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting. I have a couple of other things to hustle, but then I’ll get to enjoy that work.” Curtis has been extremely busy lately. In addition to reprising her role as Tess Coleman in the Freaky Friday sequel, she’s also set to star in James L. Brooks’s upcoming film Ella McCay and...

In 2019, a single decision left a deep cut in pop culture history – The Simpsons pulled its iconic Season 3 premiere, Stark Raving Dad, featuring none other than Michael Jackson. Six years later, the sting still lingers. What was once a fan-fave, emotional, and musically memorable episode became collateral damage in the wake of HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary, which spotlighted abuse allegations against the late pop icon.

“This was a treasured episode. There are a lot of great memories we have wrapped up in that one, and this certainly doesn’t allow them to remain,” said long-time producer James L. Brooks (per The Wall Street Journal), acknowledging how deeply personal the choice was for the creators who’d worked closely with Jackson to craft it.

The episode marked a surreal and powerful crossover between two cultural titans – The Simpsons at the peak of its golden age and Michael Jackson, still the biggest music icon on Earth.

We are launching our Gold Derby predictions center event for Oscars 2026 nominations today! Even though Academy Awards nominees will not be announced for another six months, on Jan. 22, 2026, see how well you see into the future. Click here to jump in right away, helping us set the extremely early odds and rankings for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Supporting Actor.

As we begin this new event, there are almost 50 contenders for Best Picture. Please keep in mind that we will update the predictions center weekly by adding, deleting, and changing movies, performers, and more. These updates will be made based on new information from the studios/campaigners provided to us. A movie and its contenders can only be added once it has a U.S. distributor and an approximate or firm release date in 2025. In a few months,...

Mary Richards’ apartment, as depicted on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, was every bit an icon of the ‘70s as she was. With its sunken living room, massive shag rug and pops of mustard that are, let’s face it, freaking hideous today, it was the ultimate bachelorette pad of its era. As creators James L. Brooks and Allan Burns describe it, it had “10-foot ceilings, pegged wood floors, a wood-burning fireplace, and, most important, a fantastic ceiling-height corner window,” which would be considered “a great find” by some, “mostly of the working-girl variety,” a choice of words they must have come to deeply regret.

Of course, the apartment only existed on the CBS studio lot, but it was introduced through exterior shots of a real Minneapolis mansion. At the sprawling white (now tan) Victorian, the space inside Mary’s window was actually just an unfinished attic, though in a real sign of the times,...

The halfway point of 2025 is just around the corner, and so far, the big screen has been booming. From surprise smash hits like Ryan Coogler's horror actioner Sinners to smaller critic and audience favorites like Friendship, long-awaited sequels like 28 Years Later, or blockbusters like A Minecraft Movie and Thunderbolts*, this year has been delivering one buzzworthy film after another, with even more exciting projects on the way. Lost in the murky waters, however, is Woody Harrelson's small, tense survival thriller Last Breath, which came out in the shadow of Captain America: Brave New World and managed to earn solid reviews, but only grossed an underwhelming $23.2 million at the box office. Now, however, the saturation-diving flick is resurfacing on the streaming charts, ranking eighth on Prime Video, just behind the 2024 spider horror movie, Sting.

Alex Parkinson directed Last Breath and penned the screenplay with Mitchell Lafortune and David Brooks.

Celine Song’s Materialists is currently in theaters, and the director is receiving plenty of praise for her work on her second feature film. It stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, who finds herself in a love triangle between Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal’s characters.

The movie is set against the backdrop of New York City’s luxury-driven dating scene and explores the ideas of romance and intimacy in a modern context, much like Song’s previous film, Past Lives. While Materialists lacks the charm of the former’s nuanced storytelling, it is still changing the genre, and here is how.

Celine Song’s Materialists lacks the charm of Past Lives, but received praise from a real-life matchmaker

Celine Song made her feature film directorial debut with the 2023 romantic-drama film Past Lives, which received critical acclaim and two Academy Award nominations. Song has continued her exploration of love and intimacy in modern society,...

With its fizzy trailers, set against “Material Girl” and a throwback voiceover, Celine Song’s Materialists may seem like a classic romantic comedy, but the film, Song and the actors behind the project tease, features more drama than is typical of the upbeat genre.

Indeed, as stars Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans said in the days leading up to the film’s release, Materialists is more of a “rom-com-dram.”

“There is romance, there is comedy, but it’s sort of a rom-com with drama,” Evans told The Hollywood Reporter at the Materialists premiere in New York earlier this month.

And Song did want to pay tribute to beloved rom-coms by filmmakers like Nora Ephron and James L. Brooks.

“I feel like I’m very inspired by rom-coms because I think rom-com is a beautiful genre where we all walk in getting excited to talk about and be in love and...

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Mash is a medical war comedy-drama series created by Larry Gelbart. Based on the 1968 novel by author Richard Hooker and its 1970 film adaptation by Ring Lardner Jr., the CBS series is set during the Korean War and it revolves around a group of military doctors as they defy orders and rely on humor to deal with the heartbreaking consequences of war. Mash stars Alan Alda, Wayne Rogers, McLean Stevenson, Loretta Swit, Larry Linville, Gary Burghoff, Mike Farrell, Harry Morgan, Jamie Farr, William Christopher, and David Ogden Stiers. So, if you loved the hilarious comedy, heartfelt drama, and likeable characters in Mash, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Bluestone 42 (Prime Video & Pluto TV) Credit – BBC Three

Bluestone 42 is a British sitcom series co-created by Richard Hurst and James Cary. The BBC Three series is set in Afghanistan,...

After “Shrinking” star Jason Segel wrapped nine seasons of the multi-cam sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” in 2014, he decided he wanted to break out of his comedy mold. But Segel said he was met with resistance from the industry.

“[It] was like a decade of being on one show and doing a bunch of romantic comedies and stuff, I decided I wanted to see if I was good at dramas, and so I, like, dove in hard,” Segel said during THR’s Comedy Actor Roundtable. And I thought, ‘Look out world. Here comes me doing drama.’ And it turns out nobody gives a shit.”

Then he did the 2015 film “The End of the Tour,” where he played the late novelist David Foster Wallace, which earned Segel excellent reviews. Richard Lawson wrote in Vanity Fair, “Segel handles Wallace’s intricate, discursive speech with remarkable dexterity, putting Wallace’s brilliant, troubled mind...

Spoiler Warning: This interview contains plot details, including some spoilers, for Celine Song’s “Materialists,” now in theaters.

“Celine Song Summer,” as decreed by Charli Xcx at Coachella, officially commenced with the release of the Oscar-nominated filmmaker’s sophomore movie “Materialists.”

And Song is embracing her title as one of the queens of cinema during this hot weather season — especially given that her directorial debut, “Past Lives,” also hit theaters in June on its way to grossing $42.6 million at the box office and earning two Academy Award nominations, including one for best picture. “Materialists” got off to a hot start at the domestic box office, too, with an impressive $12 million debut.

“It’s a perfect time for romantic films,” Song tells Variety via Zoom early Friday morning, before the box office receipts started rolling in.

Summer’s great for falling in love, the filmmaker reasons, because then by Fall you...

Success can be a double-edged sword. While every filmmaker would like their first movie to be a breakout success, those kinds of hits build expectation for their second feature, and not every director can navigate the artistic and industrial labyrinth that it takes to produce another instant classic.

Indeed, the perfect one-two punch is rarely achieved. Many of the best directors don’t start out with one of their finest or most successful films, those that do can’t always parlay that into a second success.

But some filmmakers have managed to immediately capitalize on all that good will, directing a second great movie after their debut wins the hearts of critics and/or audiences. With “Past Lives” filmmaker Celine Song’s second film “Materialists” now in theaters, we’re pretty danged sure these are the best.

Nicolas Cage and Nicolas Cage in ‘Adaptation’ (Sony Pictures Releasing) Adaptation.

Spike Jonze’s sophomore feature,...

Plot: A professional matchmaker (Dakota Johnson) finds herself at odds with her own materialism when, while dating a rich, handsome man (Pedro Pascal), her ex (Chris Evans) re-enters her life.

Review: A24 have been – perhaps mistakenly – trying to market Celine Song’s Materialists as a throwback romantic comedy. What they haven’t revealed is that despite the glitzy style that might initially strike some as vacant or shallow, the film is a much more layered look at modern dating, and the values that often keep us from connecting.

Regardless of whether we like to admit it or not (even to ourselves), everyone walks around with a mental checklist of attributes they want a potential partner to have. We’ve seen many movies about this from a male perspective to the point that people regularly slam it as “sexist” nowadays. But when we’ve seen it from a female perspective, which has been often as well,...

The Monday morning I sat down with Celine Song in New York City, where she lives and where her hotly awaited new film “Materialists” is set, came about an hour after reviews broke. Led by an appealing cast and doubling as a breezy romance and an incisive critique of modern dating, “Materialists” is her second movie as a director, and her first since “Past Lives” turned Song into the Oscar-nominated belle of the 2023-2024 awards season.

Reactions pouring in were going well, as most reviews (including IndieWire’s) reacted positively to writer/director Song’s portrait of matchmaker-to-the-moneyed Lucy (Dakota Johnson), who balances the clinical outlook on romance her job demands with an unexpected love triangle between herself, a lethally charming private-equity broker and potential client named Harry (Pedro Pascal), and her less-polished, struggling-actor ex John (Chris Evans).

But Song, she said, doesn’t read reviews. She leaves that task to her husband,...

When The Simpsons first debuted back in 1989, it was obviously unlike any other series that had come before it. But it still had its fair share of pop-culture influences. For one thing, the opening credit sequence was straight out of The Jetsons. And Matt Groening has said that much of the show was inspired by his love of classic sitcoms like Father Knows Best and Leave It to Beaver.

But the tone of The Simpsons can be traced back to two wildly different TV shows from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

The Ringer just shared the first chapter of the new book Stupid TV, Be More Funny: How the Golden Era of “The Simpsons” Changed Television — and America — Forever by Alan Siegel. In it, writer Jon Vitti, who penned classic episodes such as “Cape Feare” and “Radio Bart” revealed that “the basic hybrid that creates The Simpsons is...

Materialists might just be the most stylish breakup movie of the summer — and critics are loving it. The new film from Past Lives writer-director Celine Song has debuted with an impressive 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (from 28 reviews and counting), a sign that Song’s pivot to romantic dramedy is already striking a chord with audiences. And let's be real, how could it not? And how could it not? Materialists stars Dakota Johnson as Lucy, a high-powered New York matchmaker who gets tangled in a love triangle with her charming ex (Chris Evans) and a wealthy new client (Pedro Pascal). If that pitch doesn’t scream “chaotic good summer romance,” nothing does.

Set in a modern day NYC but soaked in the glossy throwback vibes of ‘90s rom-coms, Materialists is being described as a blend of Hitch and James L. Brooks, a frothy combo that aims for laughs and lands with surprising melancholy.

Over the years, Danny DeVito has established himself as one of the most celebrated funnymen in Hollywood. Even at 80, DeVito can still enthrall his entire audience with his humorous yet witty punchlines.

While more than five decades later after that incident, DeVito is an award-winning movie star, it was not always the case. There was a time when the actor had to audition for roles, and often had to bring a twist to it.

Fresh out of his success from his role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, DeVito auditioned for his iconic role in Taxi, which premiered in 1978. However, DeVito did not take a direct approach when he went in to audition for the role, and for a moment, he thought his experiment backfired.

Danny DeVito feared he almost lost his role in Taxi for his boldness

Danny DeVito once appeared in an interview with GQ, where he...

Wes Anderson is being feted by the Criterion Collection ahead of the release of his latest film, “The Phoenician Scheme.” Known as an auteur whose name has become synonymous with a distinct aesthetic, Anderson has directed 12 films, plus the series of shorts “The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Three More,” across his career. Now, his first 10 features (which encompass 25 years of cinematic history) are being released in 4K Uhd and Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection.

Anderson himself approved the 20-disc collection which also has special edition features ranging from essays by Martin Scorsese, Richard Brody, James L. Brooks, Bilge Ebiri, Moeko Fujii, Kent Jones, Dave Kehr, Geoffrey O’Brien, and Erica Wagner, as well as more than 25 hours of bonus content including audio commentaries, interviews, documentaries, deleted scenes, auditions, short films, home movies, commercials, storyboards, animation tests, archival recordings, still photography, discussions, analysis, and visual essays.

The collection will have...

Grab your perfectly tailored corduroy blazer and consult your favorite stop-motion animated creature, because a deluxe Wes Anderson box set is arriving this fall, courtesy of Criterion.

“The Wes Anderson Archive: Ten Films, Twenty-Five Years” includes the first 10 films from the esoteric American director and is, according to the official description, a “momentous twenty-disc collector’s set” that includes new 4K masters, over 25 hours of special features and 10 illustrated books in a deluxe clothbound edition. It will be available on September 30. You can preorder it now.

Included in the set are new 4K digital masters of “Bottle Rocket,” “Rushmore,” “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” “The Darjeeling Limited,” “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Isle of Dogs” and “The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun,” supervised and approved by director Wes Anderson, with 5.1 surround DTS-hd Master Audio soundtracks. The 4K discs will have Dolby Vision Hdr,...

We all remember that feeling of first love. The butterflies in the stomach. The racing thoughts of where it all might lead. But as Mara Brock Akil pointed out to IndieWire’s Future of Filmmaking during her upcoming episode of “What No One Tells You,” those first loves don’t always have to be romantic or even physical. For her, even the books she read growing up garnered their own infatuation from her and maintaining that sensation has been key in shaping her sense of storytelling.

“I am my first audience and I value that and believe that if I get to the heart of that story, it will resonate,” she said. “But then there are also stories where they impacted your life so much that you still think about it to this day.”

Judy Blume’s “Forever” was one of those stories. When Akil found out that her agency also represented Blume,...

Sony is going with its co-production of Mamoru Hosoda’s Scarlet on December 12, joining 20th Century Studios’ James L. Brooks movie Ella McKay and Focus Features’ Chloe Zhao pic Hamnet on that date on the 2025 calendar.

Scarlet is described as the story of a brave princess who transcends time and space. See the new poster below.

Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron opened during the second frame of December 2023. Not only was it a prime place to launch an awards-season anime title, but that movie went on to clear a three-day gross of $13 million, ending its stateside run at $46.8M.

Sony Pictures is co-financing the anticipated Scarlet, from the Oscar-nominated Mirai filmmaker, with Studio Chizu and Nippon TV. It is also handling global on Scarlet except for Japan, where it is being released by Toho.

Producers are Yuichiro Saito and Nozomu Takahashi for Studio Chizu and Toshimi Tanio for Nippon TV.

Sisu 2 and Ella McKay are both with us in 2025, with a new The Thomas Crown Affair due in 2027. More here.

No matter what your preferred genre might be, there’s likely to be something in this new crop of newly announced release dates to interest you.

Firstly, Screen Gems is releasing the sequel to Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander’s violent World War II action thriller, Sisu. The first film saw an ex-commando getting rather irked when Nazis stole his gold and some thrillingly-shot revenge ensued.

Jorma Tommila returns in the lead role and the sequel is getting a 21st November theatrical release date in the US and hopefully here in the UK as well. If you haven’t caught the first film yet, click here to get a taste of the movie via its (rather violent) trailer.

If grisly thrills aren’t quite your cup of tea, then what about...

Jack Nicholson has been in retirement for a while now. Taking a cue from the title of the last movie he appeared in, 2010’s “How Do You Know,” how do we know? When I talked to Nicholson for this reunion with director James L. Brooks – an unfortunate flop – I asked him why he waited three years to do another movie after his hit, “The Bucket List.” His response: “I’ve been reading scripts. Yes, they are all very similar. You just keep getting these stories about retirement, or the wife dying on you or going to Vegas. I’m definitely at the stage where I just don’t want to make another movie.”

Let’s then applaud this Oscar kingpin, who still holds the record among men for the most nominations and shares most wins (three) for a male actor with Daniel Day-Lewis and Walter Brennan. His victories were for...

Two-time Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch and Oscar winner Olivia Colman engage in an escalating feud as their marriage falls apart in the trailer for The Roses. And if you watch the trailer and think the setup feels familiar, it’s because The Roses is a reimagining of the 1989 film The War of the Roses starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner and based on the novel of the same name.

Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, and Kate McKinnon also star.

“Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Colman) and Theo (Cumberbatch): successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids,” reads Searchlight Pictures’ synopsis. “But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo’s career nosedives while Ivy’s own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.”

The Roses opens in theaters...

Searchlight Pictures has slated Jay Roach’s new comedy The Roses for an August 29 release. Based on the novel by Warren Adler, the film boasts an all-star cast which includes Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman. Now, the studio has given us a new look at the film with the first official trailer. The film also stars Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, Belinda Bromilow, and Kate McKinnon. Tony McNamara (Poor Things) wrote the script. Jay Roach, who directed the Austin Powers and Meet the Parents movies, helms this retelling.

The official synopsis for The Roses reads:

“Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch): successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo’s career nosedives while Ivy’s own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.

All’s fair when love is war. Searchlight Pictures has released the official trailer for The Roses, a reimagining of the 1989 classic film The War of the Roses, based on the novel by Warren Adler.

In The Roses, life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy (Olivia Colman) and Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch): successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing—as Theo’s career nosedives while Ivy’s own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.

The film, which has not yet been rated by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), is scheduled to open in theaters on August 29, 2025.

Directed by Jay Roach, The Roses stars Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Samberg, Allison Janney, Belinda Bromilow, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, and Kate McKinnon.

Featuring a screenplay by Tony McNamara, the...

Starting in 1990 and continuing until 2017, Alf Clausen composed the score for the hit animated sitcom "The Simpsons." A lot of the incidental music on the show was extrapolated from the theme song composed by Danny Elfman, but Clausen also had to write the many songs that appeared on the series, forcing him to work in pretty much every genre. Clausen also composed music for TV shows like "The Critic," "Alf," and "Moonlighting." A veteran of the industry, his compositions have been compiled on several "Simpsons" song and music albums.

Clausen worked on "The Simpsons" for 27 years before being abruptly fired by the show's higher-ups in 2017. He was replaced by a music firm called Bleeding Fingers Music, a collective co-founded by Hans Zimmer (who composed the 2007 box office hit that was "The Simpsons Movie") and one that employs a whole team of talented music writers. Clausen was incensed by his firing,...

The talk of the week at CinemaCon may have been Sony’s bombshell announcement about its four planned movies about The Beatles. Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Barry Keoghan, and Harris Dickinson are your Fab Four. And how these movies will look, the order they’re meant to be watched in, and most notably, Sony’s ambitious plan to release all four films in the same month, opens up a world of questions.

But there was one other thing that raised an eyebrow: the date — April 2028.

The teasing of movies three years down the road was the longest any studio asked exhibitors to wait to get excited for their product (the movies should be worth it), but they were hardly the only studio playing the long game at this year’s CinemaCon. A number of studios’ heavily touted films opening in 2026 or being announced for 2027 while only showing a smattering of...

Disney executives delivered a tidy CinemaCon session in Las Vegas packed with sequels, reboots and spin-offs like Avatar: Fire & Ash, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Tron: Ares. Executivesnoted – unsurprisingly – that the studio and its labels has ranked number one in Hollywood for eight out of the past nine years and keeps films exclusively in cinemas longer than any of its rivals.

Judging from the steady stream of whoops and applause from the crowd of exhibitors at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace on Thursday, the formula works, and Disney’s appetite for revisiting familiar territory well into 2028 and beyond suits them well.

Disney executives delivered a tidy CinemaCon session in Las Vegas packed with sequels, reboots and spin-offs like Avatar: Fire & Ash, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and Tron: Ares and noted – unsurprisingly – that the studio and its labels has ranked number one in Hollywood for eight out of the past nine years and keeps films exclusively in cinemas longer than any of its rivals.

Judging from the steady stream of whoops and applause from the crowd of exhibitors at The Colosseum in Caesars Palace on Thursday, the formula works, and Disney’s appetite for revisiting familiar territory well into 2028 and beyond suits them well.

For years, Andrew Cripps was known at CinemaCon for showing up at Warner Bros.’ presentations in all sorts of costumes. This year, he showed up in a much different role: as Disney’s new head of theatrical distribution.

Cripps took over the position from Tony Chambers, who now serves as Disney’s president of Emea, at a time when Disney’s successful 2024 gave way to a 2025 start in which “Captain America: Brave New World” had to fight just to reach break-even territory while “Snow White” has fallen to the ignominious status of the biggest flop in Disney’s remake series.

Fortunately for the studio, the rest of the year’s slate is looking much brighter, and Cripps noted that the films to come, like all of Disney’s films over the past two years, come with the longest theatrical window in the industry. Without much fanfare, Disney started a 100-day...

Two of the stars of the upcoming 20th Century Studios film Ella McCay, Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis and title star Emma Mackey, turned up at CinemaCon to honor their legendary director James L. Brooks with a Cinema Verité trophy and introduce the first ever look at the comedy.

The first order of business upon taking to the Colosseum stage inside Caesars Palace was to detail the plot of the film and who they play in the story. Set for release from 20th Century Studios on Sept. 19, the comedy, written and directed by Brooks, follows the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with a chaotic family life. It stars Mackey in the title role opposite a cast that includes Curtis, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jack Lowden, Becky Ann Baker, Joey Brooks with Albert Brooks.

Curtis praised...

Walt Disney Studios is taking over the main stage at CinemaCon 2025, and things are getting freaky! The highly anticipated panel included a presentation for Freakier Friday, the sequel to Disney’s 2003 comedy smash starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis! Before CinemaCon, Disney unveiled an adorable teaser trailer for the upcoming bodyswap tale, and now the con crowd is learning more details.

Lohan and Curtis took the CinemaCon stage to introduce the film. They explained that instead of switching bodies with each other, their characters exchange places with Lohan’s kids, so Curtis gets to act like a teenager again. Chad Michael Murray returns, and the preview includes a funny scene of Lindsay aggressively flirting with him. Murray is actually into Curtis, which could cause some delicious drama among the group. Freakier Friday looks like a crowd-pleaser, and we’re excited to see more when the movie comes to theaters...

James L. Brooks is detailing the advice he received from an acclaimed producer after making his directorial debut with “Terms of Endearment.” Brooks’ first feature went on to win Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson, and Best Actress for Shirley MacLaine at the Oscars. After his big night, Brooks apparently was “allowed” to “bomb” his next two films.

“Success can be a demon,” Brooks told The Hollywood Reporter while promoting his upcoming feature “Ella McCay” starring Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis. “I had an awareness of it and after it happened, I went out and had this great year — maybe the best year. I asked this friend of mine — a hardened producer of many pictures — how many bombs I would be allowed after ‘Terms of Endearment.’ He said, ‘I think you get two.'”

Brooks took that advice and set out to “experiment” with filmmaking.

It’s Sunday in New Orleans, and James L. Brooks has manners on the mind. The 84-year-old, who has maxed out his multihyphenate talents over the course of a legendary career that’s still firing on all cylinders six decades later, is in the Big Easy for reshoots on Ella McCay, the 20th Century Studios comedy that marks his return to the director’s chair after 15 years, and he’s thinking about how people respond to him in public.

“The thing about New Orleans is that when you make eye contact with somebody, that person is going to smile at you and say something pleasant,” he says with a grin of his own over Zoom. “That’s how the manners are here, and it’s amazing to be around. I’m going to try and make that happen in Los Angeles when I go home. I’ll let you know how the experiment works out.

Fox Entertainment has ordered unprecedented, early four-season renewals for 20th Television Animation’s hit series The Simpsons, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers, and announced the return of American Dad! to the network, it was announced today by Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network.

The three fan-favorite series – all produced by 20th Television Animation, a part of Disney Television Studios – have each received four additional seasons, continuing their impressive runs on Fox through the 2028-29 broadcast cycle.

The renewals encompass the 16th through 19th Seasons of Bob’s Burgers, the 24th through 27th Seasons of Family Guy, and the record-setting 37th through 40th Seasons of The Simpsons, extending its standing as the longest-running scripted primetime series in television history.

American Dad!, created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, and Matt Weitzman, debuted on Fox in 2005 and was a part of the network’s animation lineup through 2014. The animated comedy will return to...