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This August, HBO Max is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated streaming releases of Final Destination: Bloodlines to the release of the next season of James Gunn‘s Peacemaker. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to HBO Max next month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 5 best films coming to HBO Max in August 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

It’s Always Fair Weather (August 1) Rt Score: 91% Credit – MGM

It’s Always Fair Weather is a musical romantic comedy film co-directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen from a screenplay co-written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. The 1955 film revolves around three soldiers in New York who decide to part ways and meet ten years later but when...

Like most other online puzzle games, Framed offers a series of challenges that must be completed in order to secure a decisive victory. Unlike other puzzles though, Framed has players select the correct movie name from a total of 6 ‘guesses’, each being progressively easier to identify over the other.

Given the often difficult nature of these puzzles, however, it can pose to become a serious challenge for newcomers to the world of entertainment. Thankfully, you can find the solutions for all 3 of today’s Framed puzzles listed below – along with a brief explanation of how each puzzle works. Let’s begin, shall we?

Framed Classic Solution for Today Image Credits: Framed/FandomWire

Like previously detailed Framed Classic solutions, today’s puzzle has players guess the correct title of the movie from a total of 6 random slides.

Each slide represents a random shot from the movie in question, which makes it progressively easier to identify.

Noah Wyle was surprised, in the most adorable fashion, by the cast and crew of “The Pitt” to celebrate his newly announced star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In a video, shared by Warner Bros. TV on X, the actor seemed genuinely shocked as a colleague recounted highlights from his career. At one point, he covered his face with a gloved hand — fittingly, since he was dressed in character as Michael “Robby” Robinavitch on the set of the Max medical drama.

Huge congratulations to our dear friend and colleague, Noah Wyle, on getting selected for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame! pic.twitter.com/llNVitulpx

— Warner Bros. TV (@warnerbrostv) July 3, 2025

Wyle joked, “we got babies on the clock, we gotta wrap this up fast” before giving an impromptu speech reflecting on achieving the lifelong dream of his.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Wyle said with a laugh and broad smile.

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In the preface to her seminal book "The Hollywood Musical," Jane Feuer argues that musicals deserve as much serious consideration by film theorists as any other genre. After all, she says, just because they're mass entertainment doesn't mean they're not doing something worthwhile beneath the surface. "Musicals not only gave the most intense (because the least intellectualized) pleasure to their audience but also supplied a justification for that pleasure," she wrote. "Musicals not only showed you singing and dancing; they were about singing and dancing, about the nature and importance of that experience."

She's right. The best musicals insist that the cathartic release of singing and dancing is a worthwhile pursuit all its own. The best musicals lean into the excitement of spectacle, reminding us that coming together to watch people perform can be one of the most energizing forms of entertainment we have.

What is a classic? It's hard to define, and definitely overused. How many new things claim to be a "classic," yet fall from favor once the hype train moves on? Classics take time. Once the initial praise has passed and moved onto something shiny and new, we're left with the movies that people still talk about years or even decades later. Sure, many Academy Award winners are now considered classics, but many more are not (check out the worst Best Picture Oscar Winners here). Meanwhile, some certifiable classics never won Best Picture or were even nominated.

For this list we're defining "classic movie" as a film that was made before 1990. Not to make you feel old, but that gives the movie more than three decades to make its case for being a classic. I'll also only be including one director's best movie, lest this list become exclusively Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford,...

Exclusive: Major news for fans hopelessly devoted to Olivia Newton-John: a documentary in production about the late singer and actress will be coming to Netflix.

The streaming platform today announced the untitled project is being directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nicole Newnham. The feature – from R.J. Cutler’s This Machine (a division of Sony Pictures Television) – will explore “the music, life, and magic of beloved pop star and cultural phenom Olivia Newton-John,” according to a release. “In her own words, through vivid archival and via reminiscences from close friends and collaborators, we’ll follow Olivia’s journey as the world falls madly in love with her and she ascends to the height of fame, only to be confronted by challenges of epic proportions.”

Olivia Newton-John, photographed in September 1974 Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Newton-John, who was born in England and moved with...

Taina Elg, the Finland-born actress and dancer who starred opposite Gene Kelly in the colorful 1957 George Cukor musical Les Girls and with Kenneth More in the 1959 remake of the spy thriller The 39 Steps, has died. She was 95.

Elg died May 15 in an assisted care facility in her native Helsinki, her family told the Helsinki Times.

On Broadway, Elg worked alongside Raul Julia in the 1974-75 revival of Frank Loesser’s Where’s Charley? — she earned a Tony nomination for best featured actress in a musical for that — and in the 1982-84 original production of Tommy Tune’s Nine, where she played the mother of his character, Guido.

Her breakthrough in Hollywood came with her turn as cabaret dancer Angèle Ducros in MGM’s Les Girls, which also starred Mitzi Gaynor and Kay Kendall and featured music from Cole Porter. She and Kendall shared the Golden Globe for best actress in...

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of actress, dancer, and Broadway performer Taina Elg, who passed away earlier this month in a care facility in Helsinki, Finland. She was 95 years old. Following a career overseas, she came to the United States in the 1950s, signing a contract with MGM. Her first Hollywood credit came in 1955 with The Prodigal, a biblical episode led by Lana Turner. Only two years later, she would win the Foreign Newcomer Golden Globe, followed by a Best Actress Golden Globe for her performance in Cole Porter's Les Girls, a musical comedy featuring Gene Kelly and Mitzi Gaynor. After appearing in a selection of other titles in the 1950s and '60s, she began her Broadway career in...

Cruise does things his way in this eighth and last Mission: Impossible, as his maverick agent Ethan Hunt takes on the ultimate in AI evil

Here it is: the eighth and final film (for now) in the spectacular Mission: Impossible action-thriller franchise, which manifests itself like the last segment jettisoned from some impossibly futurist Apollo spacecraft, which then carries on ionospherically upwards in a fireball as Tom Cruise ascends to a state beyond stardom, beyond IP. And with this film’s anti-ai and internet-sceptic message, and the gobsmacking final aerial set piece, Cruise is repeating his demand for the echt big-screen experience. He is of course doing his own superhuman stunts – for the same reason, as he himself once memorably put it, that Gene Kelly did all his own dancing.

Final Reckoning is a new and ultimate challenge (actually the second half of the challenge from the previous film) which...

London, England – May 12: (L to R) Tom Cruise, Jerry Bruckheimer and Christopher McQuarrie attend the BFI Chair’s dinner where Tom Cruise was awarded a BFI Fellowship at The Rosewood on May 12, 2025 in London, England.

Photo by Dave Benett In London, the British Film Institute (BFI) bestowed its highest honor, the BFI Fellowship, upon the one and only Tom Cruise. The prestigious award was presented at the annual BFI Chair’s Dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Jay Hunt at the elegant Rosewood Hotel. Christopher McQuarrie, a close friend and longtime collaborator London, England – May 12: Tom Cruise attends the BFI Chair’s dinner where he was awarded a BFI Fellowship at The Rosewood on May 12, 2025 in London, England.

Photo by Dave Benett of Tom Cruise, presented him with the Fellowship in a heartfelt tribute. After working together on cinematic landmarks for almost two decades, McQuarrie expressed his admiration for...

Dick Van Dyke says he isn't giving up hope of winning an Oscar at age 99. The Mary Poppins actor has never received an Oscar nomination in his incredible 78-year career.

Van Dyke and his wife Arlene Silver gave an interview to People where they addressed the actor's ambitions as he nears his 100th birthday in December 2025. He noted that he's won every major Hollywood award "except an Oscar."

Dick Van Dyke Reveals His Hopes for an Oscar Win at 99

"Nobody would give me an Oscar," he joked, before adding: "My buddy, I was a friend of Stan Laurel's and he got one. Not posthumously."

Silver mentioned that all of Van Dyke's "idols" — Gene Kelly, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton— won Oscars throughout their careers, before predicting: "[Dick] will get one."

Van Dyke is one Oscar away from completing the prestigious Egot — an entertainment industry nickname for those who have won an Emmy Award,...

Actor Patrick Adiarte, best known for his role in Season 1 of revered 1970s comedy series M*A*S*H, has died at age 82.

The Daily Mail newspaper reports that Adiarte’s niece confirmed the news that the actor had died of pneumonia at a Los Angeles hospital.

Adiarte had a successful career on stage and screen, and was most familiar for his role of Ho-Jon on the first season of M*A*S*H, which he played between 1972-1973. The role had been played on the big screen by Kim Atwood.

Besides that role, which made his face recognizable to millions of fans across the world, the actor also appeared in Bonanza, The Brady Bunch, Hawaii Five-O and Kojak.

Prior to his TV breakthrough, Adiarte appeared on stage in musicals, where he impressed Gene Kelly as a talented dancer, and had a role in the film adaptations of The King and I and Flower Drum Song.

Patrick Adiarte, the Philippines-born actor and dancer best known for his roles in “The King and I,” “M*A*S*H” and “Flower Drum Song,” died Tuesday in Los Angeles from pneumonia. He was 82.

His death was confirmed on social media by friends and family members Wednesday.

Born in Manila, Adiarte was imprisoned along with his sister Irene and their mother Purita by the Japanese in 1945 during World War II. Their father was killed that same year while he was working as a captain for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Over a year later, Adiarte and his surviving family members emigrated to New York. In 1952, he joined the Broadway cast of “The King and I” and toured with the show alongside fellow cast members Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence. When the Broadway production was adapted a few years later in 1956 into a feature film by 20th Century Fox, Adiarte was cast as Prince Chulalongkorn,...

Patrick Adiarte, the Philippines-born dancer and actor who appeared in The King and I and Flower Drum Song on Broadway and the big screen and had a recurring role on M*A*S*H, has died. He was 82.

Adiarte died Tuesday in a Los Angeles-area hospital of pneumonia, his niece, Stephanie Hogan, told The Hollywood Reporter.

When The Brady Bunch went to Honolulu for a family vacation in a three-part episode that kicked off the fourth season of the ABC series in 1972, Adiarte played a construction gofer who gives the kids a tour before they meet with all kinds of chaos after Bobby (Mike Lookinland) discovers a small tiki idol that could be cursed.

Adiarte also was a popular dancer on the 1965-66 NBC musical variety series Hullabaloo, where he began a short-lived singing career with the pop tune “Five Different Girls.”

In 1952, Adiarte joined the Broadway cast of Rodgers...

Don Mischer, a director and producer whose six-decade career shaped some of the most-watched live broadcasts in American television history, died in his sleep on April 11 in Los Angeles. He was 85.

Mischer had just completed what he said would be his final production, the 2025 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony in Santa Monica. Hosted by James Corden with a performance by Katy Perry, the event featured a guest list of celebrities and tech figures and was streamed online.

From Super Bowl halftime shows and Olympic ceremonies to the Academy Awards and Kennedy Center Honors, Mischer built a reputation as one of the most trusted figures in live television. He won 15 Emmy Awards, 10 Directors Guild of America Awards, a Peabody, two NAACP Image Awards, and received lifetime achievement honors from both the DGA and PGA.

Donald Leo Mischer was born March 5, 1940, in San Antonio. His father worked in insurance, and his mother died of...

Don Mischer, the Emmy-accumulating director-producer who called the shots on the biggest live entertainment events in the world, from Super Bowl halftime shows and Olympic opening ceremonies to the Oscars and the Emmys, has died. He was 85.

Mischer died peacefully in his sleep in Los Angeles on Friday, a family spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.

The San Antonio native also helmed the Kennedy Center Honors, starting with the inaugural 1978 event through 1986 — he then produced the CBS telecast from 1993-2001 — and guided Barbara Walters‘ highly-rated ABC interview shows beginning in the late 1970s.

Meanwhile, Mischer was the architect of dozens of landmark TV specials, including 1983’s Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, which featured a reunion of The Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson’s “moonwalk” during a “Billie Jean” performance, and 1990’s The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson and 1998’s Sonny & Me: Cher Remembers, both of which aired mere months after the shocking deaths...

For many people, the character of Lieutenant Columbo, the disheveled detective portrayed with a perfect mix of earnestness and deprecation by Peter Falk, is as comforting as a fictional character can be. He is the true ideal for justice, frequently taking down the rich and powerful through the sheer power of being an annoying little guy who pays close attention. Indeed, every episode of "Columbo" offers at least some kind of comfort for the audience. The show ran for decades, from 1968 to 2003 (though there were some gaps), with Columbo becoming a crucial part of pop culture along the way, being referenced in everything from "The Simpsons" to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." 

One especially memorable "Columbo" reference, however, was created by Falk himself when he gave a truly hilarious performance as the titular character outside of the actual show. In 1978, the actor appeared in-character as Columbo on "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast,...

A new statue will be joining the exciting ‘Scenes in the Square’ movie trail in Leicester Square, with Yash Raj Films’ historic blockbuster Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (Ddlj) becoming the first-ever Indian statue erected in Leicester Square, London! This will mark the start of the 30-year celebrations of Ddlj, one of the most loved blockbuster Hindi films of all time, the timeless and multi-award-winning rom-com that also marked the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra.

The bronze statue will depict the two Bollywood megastars, Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, in an iconic Ddlj pose. Set to be unveiled in Spring this year, today’s Heart of London Business Alliance announcement signifies how the film is loved by the over five million strong British South Asian community. Ddlj is a pop culture milestone for India and South Asians globally.

The new statue will be positioned along the eastern terrace outside the Odeon Cinema,...

Tom Cruise will be cruising into Cannes for the world premiere of “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” which is believed to close out the beloved nearly 30-year-old film franchise.

“Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” will debut Out of Competition at the Grand Théâtre Lumière on Wednesday, May 14. Actor/producer Cruise, his long-time collaborator director/screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie, and the rest of the cast will walk the steps of the Palais des Festivals on the red carpet.

“The Final Reckoning” co-stars Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Hayley Atwell, and Pom Klementieff. The eighth “Mission: Impossible” film centers on Cruise’s Ethan Hunt as he tries to defeat the Entity, a sentient AI tool that threatens nuclear war. Cruise has played Ethan Hunt since the beginning of the film franchise in 1996. Director McQuarrie cowrote the script with Erik Jendresen; the film is a Paramount Pictures and Skydance release. “The Final Reckoning...

The late Stanley Donen was born on April 13, 1924. The legendary filmmaker -- the last of the directors from Hollywood's golden age -- passed away on February 21, 2019, leaving behind a legacy of classic movies filled with color, song, and dance. Let's take a look back at 15 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Donen got his start as a dancer. It was in the chorus line for George Abbott's production of "Pal Joey" that he met Gene Kelly. The two became quick friends, and Donen started working as Kelly's assistant, helping him choreograph his intensely acrobatic dance sequences.

The two turned to filmmaking with "On the Town" (1949), a lavish Technicolor musical about three sailors on a 24 hour shore leave in New York City. They teamed up again for perhaps the greatest movie musical of all time: "Singin' in the Rain" (1952). A satire of Hollywood's rocky transition from silent cinema to sound,...

It's become very easy to take for granted the experience of watching live actors interact with CGI creations (or really anything that isn't physically on the set of a movie or series). Even the most basic TV shows utilize green-screen now to make it look like real people are standing outside instead of in the middle of a film studio's vast warehouse. But it wasn't always like this, and it wasn't that long ago that actors having to act against the unreal was new and strange, both for audiences and the performers themselves. Though special effects had been part of filmmaking for a long time, one of the most seminal and influential films of this nature was the 1988 fantasy comedy "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" is one of the great modern films, and not just because it set a new standard for what audiences could expect when...

As fulfilling as it must be to create an actual feature film, there has to be a lot of fun involved in developing the fake films that sometimes appear in movies. Think about it. You don't have to deal with all the finicky details and logistics of turning this brief concept into a fully-fledged picture -- you just get to come up with an idea, execute the best bits of it, and move on. 

Whether they add to the narrative or simply serve as an excellent punchline, fake movies can pack an out-sized punch, considering how we often only see a few minutes of them within a larger narrative. But it speaks to their quality that despite the small amount of time they're shown on screen, they tend to lodge themselves into the mind of the viewer, giving audiences a stand-out moment. And the very best of these make us all think,...

Selena Gomez can now count iconic auteur Francis Ford Coppola among her fans. The “Emilia Pérez” star recently received praise for her “Sunset Blvd” music video, which references Coppola’s 1982 musical “One from the Heart.” And Coppola himself took to social media to thank Gomez for revitalizing interest in his underrated feature.

“Thank you, dear Selena Gomez for including an influence from an old grandpa’s work in your music video ‘Sunset Blvd,'” Coppola wrote. “It’s wonderful to see an homage from ‘One From The Heart’ live again in your beautiful and capable talent.”

Gomez, in turn, wrote, “Thank you Francis Ford Coppola for being an inspiration to us all!”

“One from the Heart” has been top of mind in Hollywood recently: The Gene Kelly-choreographed musical was cited by the “Joker: Folie à Deux” team as an inspiration for the sequel. “One from the Heart: Reprise,” which...

There’s something magical about the movie Singin’ in the Rain. No matter how many times you watch it, the film feels just as fresh and joyful as the first time. It’s more than just a classic musical; it’s a beautiful and joyous story about love, ambition, and the challenges of an evolving time in Hollywood.

Set at a time when the film industry was transitioning from silent films to talkies, the movie showed creativity and charm in the chaos of that era. But everything was portrayed with a lighthearted touch.

Gene Kelly in the musical romantic comedy movie Singin’ in the Rain | Credit: Warner Bros.

At its core, however, there is a celebration of passion that was beautifully brought to life by its three stars, Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. Their chemistry and energy turned every scene into a cinematic treat.

While the movie brims with memorable moments,...

Guillermo del Toro is not just one of our greatest living filmmakers. He is one of our greatest cinephiles, sharing his favorite movies all the time to introduce fans of his work to the larger film history context that inspired many of them. The “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Devil’s Backbone” filmmaker has previously made his TCM Picks as a filmmaker advisor to Turner Classic Movies. IndieWire praised his selection of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Suspicion” then, as a film by the Master of Suspense that feels oddly underrated today, despite being as masterful an exploration of subjectivity as anything in Hitchcock’s filmography.

For his March 2025 TCM Picks, del Toro returns to Hitchcock, and this time for a truly “canonical” selection from the Master, and gives some brilliant remarks about why it’s so everlasting — with even a shout-out to Hitchcock’s love of “overbearing mother figures.” It’s “North by Northwest.

Tommy Dix, who starred as a young military school cadet opposite Lucille Ball in the 1943 MGM musical comedy Best Foot Forward after appearing in the Broadway original, has died. He was 101.

Dix, of Williamsburg, Virginia, died Jan. 15, his family announced. “He was, for those who knew him well, a living link with some of the great American personalities of the 20th century. He will be missed,” they said.

Dix was a popular baritone on network radio and had just made his Broadway debut in The Corn Is Green, starring Ethel Barrymore, when he was hired to play cadet Chuck Green in Best Foot Forward, directed by George Abbott and choreographed by Gene Kelly.

The Broadway musical, which bowed in October 1940 and ran for 326 performances, starred Rosemary Lane as Hollywood star Gale Joy, who accepts an out-of-the-blue invitation from Winsocki Military Academy student Bud Hooper (Gil Stratton) in Philadelphia to be...

The history of any important film festival is the history of the films and filmmakers they’ve showcased and championed: what’s their tally of breakthrough filmmakers and esteemed auteurs who have defined the past century of cinema?

This is why Berlin, Cannes and Venice, after nearly a century of annual unspoolings (as Variety likes to call them) retain their reputations and the vitality of their programming and festival operations.

There is a parallel history as well, one that charts the important fests’ cultural and economic impacts upon the communities and countries where they’re held.

The French film industry is a primary European powerhouse of collaborative private and public financing and film promotion, and it has coordinated beautifully for decades with the Cannes Film Festival. To the good fortunes of both.

Itay’s official cinematic and cultural organizations and departments have partnered effectively with the Venice Festival, even if...

If “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning” ends up being Tom Cruise’s last chance to save the world as Ethan Hunt, he’s leaving it all on the court.

In a recent interview with Empire, Cruise and “The Final Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie detailed a previously secret death-defying stunt that Cruise performed in a movie that is filled with them. At one point in “The Final Reckoning,” there is an underwater sequence that required Cruise to be submerged in an 8.5 million liter water tank for ten minutes at a time — forcing the crew to closely monitor his time underwater to ensure he didn’t suffer from hypoxia, a condition that arises from a lack of oxygen in body tissue.

“I’m breathing in my own carbon dioxide,” Cruise said. “It builds up in the body and affects the muscles. You have to overcome all of that while you’re doing it,...

If you want to get a feel for what cinema was like in a given year, looking at that year's best picture nominees would seem to be a good place to start. After all, only between five and 10 movies have received such a distinction annually, and since people voting work in the entertainment industry themselves, it's understandable they'd choose the cream of the crop, right?

Wrong!

It shouldn't be hard to find at least five amazing films each year, yet every so often, the Academy honors something that wasn't a hit with critics or audiences. People are quick to point out the worst Oscar best picture winners ever, like "Crash" and "Green Book," but when you expand that to nominees, you really wind up with some dreck (with a couple even taking home the big prize). For this list, we took the worst 10 films ever nominated based on their critics' Rotten Tomatoes scores.

Tony Roberts, who appeared in Woody Allen films including “Annie Hall” while enjoying a long, bountiful career on Broadway, died Friday due to complications of lung cancer. He was 85 years old.

Roberts’ death was confirmed to The New York Times by his daughter, Nicole Burley.

Roberts appeared in six film directed by Woody Allen: “Play It Again, Sam” (1972), “Annie Hall” (1977), “Stardust Memories” (1980), “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy” (1982), “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986) and “Radio Days” (1987).

The actor had a long career on Broadway in which he was twice Tony-nominated: for best actor in a musical in 1968 for “How Now, Dow Jones” and for featured actor in a play in 1969 for Woody Allen’s “Play It Again, Sam.”

Roberts had most recently appeared in the 2017 television film adaptation of “Dirty Dancing.” He had most also appeared on television in a 2010 episode of “Law & Order” in which he played a U.S.

With a slew of fading celebrities boarding the Pacific Princess week after week, it was inevitable that there would be some jerks floating around on The Love Boat. Two of the show’s cast members — Jill “Vicki Stubing” Whelan and Ted “Isaac Your Bartender” Lange — recently told the Still Here Hollywood podcast which passengers were the worst.

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First up, according to Whelan? That’s comedian Buddy Hackett. “He was just difficult,” she said in naming him one of her least favorite guests. She didn’t go into details but Hackett’s “difficult” reputation precedes him. During the filming of It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, for example, actor Marvin Kaplan feared for his life. “I was leaning on a couch, and he threw a knife at me. Threw a knife at me!” he said in Kliph Nesteroff’s The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy.

The Golden Age of Hollywood musicals ran from the 1930s to the late 1950s/early 1960s in Hollywood, with Gene Kelly being a key fixture in some of the greatest productions. Films like Singin' in the Rain and An American in Paris have permeated through our culture, still resonating with audiences today. Kelly is renowned for integrating ballet into the modern musical and for his inimitable charm on screen. He was also an accomplished director in Hollywood, with his work ranging from Westerns (The Cheyenne Social Club) to straight comedies (A Guide for the Married Man).

Oscar-winning Sundance Film Festival veteran Bill Condon returned to Park City to present the world premiere of his new movie musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman, at Eccles Center Theatre on Sunday night. When it was over and all the credits had rolled, his star Jennifer Lopez was moved to tears, the capacity crowd delivered two standing ovations and a star was born thanks to a revelatory turn from Tonatiuh.

Considering the pedigree of its filmmaker — Condon previously directed musicals Dreamgirls and Beauty and the Beast and wrote the Oscar-winning Chicago — and its global superstar who plays dual roles including the title character, Spider Woman was the most anticipated debut of Sundance this year. In his review, The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief film critic David Rooney calls it one of Lopez’s best roles of her decades-long career.

Lopez, who skipped snow boots and sweaters for her festival debut, hit...

Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda made their impeccable individual contributions to the Western genre that have earned them a place among its greats. They generally rarely collaborated on-screen, and when they did, it was for a good cause, like in the Western epic How the West Was Won, which also starred John Wayne, Gregory Peck, and other Hollywood stars of the time. Stewart and Fonda's first onscreen encounter was in a whimsical 1948 comedy drama, On Our Merry Way, a three-part anthology with interconnected vignettes in which the duo play struggling musicians. After amassing decades of experience in diverse genres, the two legends would team up again in 1970 in one of the most hilarious Westerns ever made, Gene Kelly's The Cheyenne Social Club.

Many of us survived the Covid days by rediscovering old MGM musicals, humming tunes from Singing In the Rain or doing a Fred Astaire tap from Top Hat.

So if they represented islands of good cheer, let’s get real about the new cycle of musicals: Like their forebears, they will likely win lots of awards and make money, but tonally they are not exactly generous with joy. Even some of their admirers were left hopeful that Bob Dylan would find a new analyst, Maria Callas would try Tinder and Elton John — well Never Too Late may be pushing it.

Award nominations already are stacking up for Timothée Chalamet, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Karla Sofía Gascón and Angelina Jolie among others, and Universal is joyful about its $500 million-plus grosses for Wicked. There’s no doubt that the musical genre has re-established itself, with even some of this year...

Like many a romantic lead before him, when Jonathan Bailey first appears as Prince Fiyero in “Wicked” it’s on a horse, ready to be a savior to some damsel. For story purposes, it’s a good thing that Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) isn’t immediately impressed. But right from his “Hello,” no one would have blamed Elphaba if she ran off with him right then and there.

“[Jonathan’s] the most charming man I’ve ever met,” “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu told IndieWire. “The fact [is] that everybody — we didn’t even intentionally do it — but all the extras, all the background people, all the students were in love with him, and you could see it in their eyes.”

Fans likely aren’t too surprised: The worldwide blockbuster may have introduced Bailey to an even larger audience, but he’s been building a strong relationship with viewers for a while. The Olivier...

Marvin Laird, who composed music for Broadway and the big screen and served as Bernadette Peters’ musical director for many years, has died. He was 85.

Laird died Monday of natural causes in Redding, Connecticut, a family spokesperson announced.

Marvin conducted for such hit Broadway revivals as 1999-2001’s Annie Get Your Gun, 2003-04’s Gypsy and 2011-12’s Follies, all starring Peters. He also worked with the famed performer in 2009 for a concert benefiting her charity, Broadway Barks.

“My beloved Marvin had impeccable style and a delicious sense of humor, and his generous spirit has made everyone he worked with fall in love with him,” the two-time Tony winner said in a statement. “I was a major beneficiary of Marvin’s genius and generosity of support and love.”

He conducted concerts for her as well as for Joel Grey, Diana Ross, Cass Elliot, Dusty Springfield and Goldie Hawn.

Laird wrote...

Exclusive: Corbin Bleu and Stephanie Styles will headline a private industry reading in January of the Broadway-aimed musical comedy Get Happy, a new stage adaptation of the MGM film classic Summer Stock.

The invitation-only reading will be held on January 17 in New York City, according to producers Steve Peters and Michael Londra of VenuWorks Theatricals, Greg & Marissa Frankenfield of Excelsior Entertainment, and executive producers Carolyn Rossi Copeland and Nancy Nagel Gibbs.

Get Happy is produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.

The musical premiered last year under the title Summer Stock in a well-reviewed and sold-out run at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Musicals. Featuring a book and additional lyrics by four-time Emmy Award winner Cheri Steinkellner, Get Happy includes many of the film’s famous songs such as “You, Wonderful You,” “Dig for Your Dinner,” “Happy Harvest,” and the title song, which...

As a genre, movie musicals have had some serious ups and downs throughout Hollywood history. Right now, they definitely seem to be on an upswing, especially now that the long-awaited "Wicked" movie blew everyone away at the box office — and it was only the first half of the musical to boot.

In recent years, movie musicals like "Wonka," "Mean Girls," "The Greatest Showman," "La La Land," and even the filmed stage version of "Hamilton" have become enormous hits, though critical reception has been decidedly mixed across these projects. So what are the best musicals ever according to the official Rotten Tomatoes ranking of movie musicals? Only three musicals earned 100% ratings on the review aggregate, which is — I have to say — a little surprising, largely because some all-time classics apparently missed the cut. For example, "The Sound of Music" and the original "West Side Story" only earned 83% and 92%, respectively, despite being two staples of the genre,...

The Screen Actors Guild has been presenting its annual life achievement award for many decades. The most recent recipient for 2025 was double Oscar winner Jane Fonda.

For the 2023 event, Sally Field was the latest veteran performer to receive the Screen Actor’s Guild life achievement award. Starting in 1995, audiences around the world have been able to enjoy this celebration of a beloved thespian’s work, crammed right in the middle of a nail-biting awards telecast. In honor of De Niro’s accomplishment, let’s take a look back at every person to be given this prize since the event was first televised. Our gallery includes Helen Mirren, Robert De Niro, Alan Alda, Morgan Freeman, Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Betty White, Shirley Temple, Barbra Streisand, and more.

SAG began handing out a career achievement prize to actors who left their mark on both the big screen and small in 1962. It wasn...

In “A Week of Hollywood Legends,” Julien’s Auctions and Turner Classic Movies (TCM) are bidding off property from the estate of singer and actor Olivia Newton-John, including the black leather jacket Newton-John’s Sandy rode off into the sky in with John Travolta’s Danny in Grease. A portion of the proceeds will go towards the Olivia Newton-John Foundation Fund, which supports plant medicine research for cancer. In August 2022, Newton-John died after a decades-long battle with breast cancer at the age of 73.

While the live auction event will take...

Serendipity seems to follow Ralph Macchio — and it most recently took him to Australia.

In October, Coldplay released the song “The Karate Kid,” and it’s exactly what you think it’s about, down to the lyrics about “Daniel.” That, of course, is the name of the lead character played by Macchio in three “The Karate Kid” movies and six seasons of Netflix’s “Cobra Kai.” After Macchio heard the tune, he shared it on social media — and that’s when Coldplay concocted a plan. Frontman Chris Martin asked Macchio to come to Australia, where they were playing a series of dates, and film the music video. The ruse included bringing the actor on stage to help perform “The Karate Kid.”

“It was just one of those whirlwind things,” says Macchio, who just returned from Down Under. “It’s just a beautiful track. It blew my mind that he wrote the song,...

It’s Musicals Week at IndieWire. With “Wicked” about to sparkle over theaters, we’re celebrating the best of the movie-musical genre.

With all due respect to my colleagues, I feel crazy talking about movie musicals at work.

Every year since I’ve been a full time entertainment reporter, Disney has released an underwhelming live-action version of one of its delightful animated musicals. I witnessed the hype and joy surrounding Jon M. Chu’s “In the Heights” and tepid reception for Steven Spielberg’s “West Side Story,” and continue to live in uncertainty about whether or not there will be a third “Mamma Mia!” film (please!). These days, it seems like every movie musical is anticipated with more than a healthy dose of fear, in case it struggles to recapture the magic of on-screen song-and-dance that was once so easy for this industry.

The reason I feel crazy is that...

It’s Musicals Week at IndieWire. With “Wicked” about to sparkle over theaters, we’re celebrating the best of the movie-musical genre.

Bob Fosse only directed five features — “Sweet Charity,” “Cabaret,” “Lenny,” “All That Jazz,” and “Star 80” — but among filmmakers and cinephiles, his legend looms large in proportion to the abundance of his output. David Fincher, for example, frequently references Fosse as an influence alongside and equal to far more prolific directors like Steven Spielberg, William Friedkin, and John Carpenter. In “A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies,” Fosse is one of only a few post-classical studio era auteurs (alongside Stanley Kubrick and Clint Eastwood) that Scorsese deems worthy of inclusion alongside old masters like Orson Welles and Sam Fuller.

By only making a handful of movies in between stints revolutionizing American musical theater on Broadway, Fosse maintained a consistency any director would envy — he’s five...

Confession: I’ve never cared much for “Like a Virgin.” Madonna’s 1984 hit may be the first, if not the, signature song of her career, but it’s a trifle—a novelty, really—with its plucky, noncommittal guitar licks, sub-“Billie Jean” bassline, and the singer’s helium squeak of a voice.

That last, integral element in particular has always irked me, as, from “Express Yourself” to “Don’t Tell Me,” Madonna has proven she’s capable of some deep, soulful performances. Of course, the vocals on “Like a Virgin” were allegedly employed by design, sped up to render Madonna’s voice more childlike and “virginal.”

I’m in fairly good company, though, since both producer Nile Rodgers and Madonna herself aren’t particularly fond of “Like a Virgin” either, and she’s chosen to completely reinvent the song in masterful ways nearly every time she’s performed it. The...

Mitzi Gaynor has sadly died.

The beloved actress, who starred in South Pacific and Les Girls, passed away at the age of 93, her management team confirmed to Variety on Thursday (October 17).

She died of natural causes.

“For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on the stage. She truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer,” the team wrote in a statement on social media.

“Off stage, she was a vibrant and extraordinary woman, a caring and loyal friend, and a warm, gracious, very funny and altogether glorious human being.”

She starred as Nellie Forbush in the 1958 big-screen adaptation of South Pacific together, performing the famous number “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair.”

She also starred with Gene Kelly and Kay Kendall in the George Cukor-directed musical Les Girls.

She made her feature...

Actress Mitzi Gaynor — who gained fame starring in the 1958 war musical “South Pacific” — died on Thursday at the age of 93.

Gaynor’s managers, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, shared the news on Gaynor’s X account. The pair said the star “truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career” as well as the “great privilege of being an entertainer.” They further confirmed Gaynor died of natural causes.

“Off stage, she was a vibrant and extraordinary woman, a caring and loyal friend, and a warm, gracious, very funny and altogether glorious human being. And she could cook, too!,” the managers said in their X tribute.

“We take great comfort in the fact that her creative legacy will endure through her many magical performances captured on film and video, through her recordings and especially through the love and support audiences around the world have shared so generously with her throughout her life and career,...

One of the few survivors of the golden age of the Hollywood musical also appeared in We’re Not Married and There’s No Business Like Show Business

Mitzi Gaynor, the dancer and actor who starred as Nellie Forbush in the 1958 film of South Pacific and appeared in other musicals with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly, has died. She was 93.

Gaynor, among the last survivors of the so-called golden age of the Hollywood musical, died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Thursday morning, her longtime managers, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed in a statement.

Mitzi Gaynor, star of 1950s big-screen musicals including “South Pacific” and “Les Girls” and a series of beloved variety specials in the 1970s, died on Thursday. She was 93.

Gaynor’s management team, Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda, confirmed to Variety that she died of natural causes.

“For eight decades she entertained audiences in films, on television and on the stage. She truly enjoyed every moment of her professional career and the great privilege of being an entertainer,” Reyes and Rosamonda wrote in a statement on Gaynor’s X account. “Off stage, she was a vibrant and extraordinary woman, a caring and loyal friend, and a warm, gracious, very funny and altogether glorious human being.”

Gaynor starred as Navy nurse Nellie Forbush in the 1958 big-screen adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” together with Rossano Brazzi as French planter Emile De Becque and John Kerr as Lt. Cable. Gaynor sang...

Mitzi Gaynor, the leggy entertainer whose saucy vitality and blond beauty graced the big screen in South Pacific and on Las Vegas stages and in spectacular TV specials, has died. She was 93.

Gaynor, who received top billing over The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 16, 1964, and was famed costume designer Bob Mackie’s first celebrity client, died Oct. 17 of natural causes, her team announced in a statement.

“As we celebrate her legacy, we offer our thanks to her friends and fans and the countless audiences she entertained throughout her long life,” Rene Reyes and Shane Rosamonda of Gaynor’s Mgmt team said in a statement shared on the entertainer’s X (formerly known as Twitter.)

“Your love, support and appreciation meant so very much to her and was a sustaining gift in her life. She often noted that her audiences were ‘the sunshine of my life.’ You truly were.