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It's not news that "Cats" is a bad movie. Directed by Tom Hooper, the movie uses Andrew Lloyd Webber's inscrutable and mostly plotless Broadway musical as its source material, and to say it's jarring, bizarre, and outright terrible is an understatement. Also, Taylor Swift is in it.

Let me backtrack for a moment and say this: The Broadway musical "Cats" is not my personal cup of tea, but I'm not here to crap all over it. It's one of the highest-grossing musicals in history, and to be absolutely fair, the fact that the stage version is plotless isn't a technically bad thing. Making it into a movie, though, was a patently terrible idea, and I say that with no due respect to Hooper ... and unfortunately for Swift and her co-stars Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, and, uh, James Corden, it's a part of their creative histories now.

Taylor Kitsch’s origin story for Ben Edwards goes from Navy Seal to becoming a CIA Special Operations agent in the trailer for Prime Video’s The Terminal List: Dark Wolf.

Chris Pratt reprises his role as James Reece in the prequel that also stars Tom Hooper, Luke Hemsworth, Robert Wisdom and Dar Salim. Rona-Lee Shimon, Shiraz Tzarfati and Jared Shaw. “Men like us — protectors, defenders, sentinels — you’re either in the fight, or you’re thinking about,” Wisdom as Jed Haverford explains at one point in the trailer.

The prequel is co-created by The Terminal List author Jack Carr, who is also a former Navy Seal, and season one showrunner David Digilio. As an espionage thriller, the series explores the darker side of warfare through the actions of muscular CIA operatives.

The first three episodes of Dark Wolf will premiere on Aug. 27 Prime Video in over 240 countries worldwide, with...

Luca Guadagnino is going to be on the road a lot in the coming months. One day after the Italian filmmaker's latest feature, After the Hunt, joined the Venice Film Festival lineup as an out of competition selection, the New York Film Festival announced that the Amazon MGM-released film will play as the opening night selection of its 63rd edition.

"We are excited to open this year’s festival with Luca Guadagnino’s latest, which confirms his status as one of the most versatile risk-takers working today," NYFF artistic director Dennis Lim said in a statement. "Brilliantly acted and crafted, After the Hunt is something rare in contemporary cinema: a complex, grown-up movie with a lot on its mind that also happens to be a deeply satisfying piece of entertainment."

In his own statement, Guadagnino called NYFF "an arbiter of global cinema," and provided a quick preview of the movie's themes.

Paul Giamatti’s Emmy-Winning Role in John Adams Still Stands Tall After 2025 Snub (Photo Credit – HBO)

Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti has given several powerful performances throughout his career. The list includes Sideways (2004), Cinderella Man (2005), 12 Years a Slave (2013), and The Holdovers (2023), to name a few. Earlier this year, he gave an emotional, subtle, and compelling performance in the Black Mirror episode titled Eulogy. Yet, it was overlooked for this year’s Emmys.

Eulogy is one of the best Black Mirror episodes I’ve seen in years. Paul Giamatti gives a breathtaking Emmy-worthy performance as an emotionally wounded man coming to terms with the woman he used to love. Such a beautiful story, with an ending that left me in tears. Brilliant. pic.twitter.com/w1X3WmIliz

— Brian Rowe (@mrbrianrowe) June 15, 2025

Interestingly, there’s one critically acclaimed series that earned Paul Giamatti his first and only Emmy win. We are...

“Call My Agent!” breakout Camille Cottin readies for an entirely new challenge in the upcoming adaptation of “Les Misérables.”

Directed by Fred Cavayé, it takes on Victor Hugo’s best-known novel, which also tempted Tom Hooper back in 2023. Cottin will play antagonist Madame Thénardier, married to Monsieur Thénardier (Benjamin Lavernhe) and asked to take care of the daughter of ill-fated Fantine (Noémie Merlant).

“It’s definitely faithful to the original,” she says about the period drama. “It’s almost a mythological part because she and her husband are the real monsters of literature. It’s challenging, because it’s been explored many times and very brilliantly. I’m stressed. But, you know, why not [do it]?”

According to Cottin, Cavayé had a “fresh point of view” when approaching the well-known story. Vincent Lindon and Tahar Rahim also star, as Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert respectively.

“In the book, it’s Madame Thénardier...

On any list of the most admired composers working in film today, Alexandre Desplat would be either at the top or very close to it. That’s not just for the quality of the work — although, as his list of 11 Oscar nominations and two wins would indicate, there is that — but the expanse of styles and sheer breadth of his filmography, whether he’s doing ear-ticklingly eccentric scores for smaller-scale pictures or satisfyingly symphonic ones for the blockbusters.

The French scorer is about to undergo a Hollywood composer’s rite of passage, which some would say is overdue, conducting his first full night of music at the Hollywood Bowl this coming Tuesday night. It will finally answer the longstanding question: Who would win in a fight —”Godzilla” or “The Queen”? But seriously, having the music of monster movies and royal dramas on the same bill will make for a full-service...

The Terminal List, Chris Pratt's divisive action thriller series on Amazon Prime Video, is currently surging up the U.S. streaming charts even though season 1 was released back in 2022. Pratt, who has starred in blockbuster franchises such as Jurassic World and the MCU, also recently starred in Netflix's adventure epic movie The Electric State.

While Pratt is primarily a Hollywood movie star, he has appeared in a handful of notable TV series dating back to his breakout role as Andy Dwyer in Parks and Recreation. His conspiracy thriller series The Terminal List, based on the book by Jack Carr, received a 94% Rotten Tomatoes audience score and has risen to the #6 spot on Prime Video's streaming charts in the U.S.

Why The Terminal List Is So Popular 3 Years After Its Release Its Prequel Series Dark Wolf Will Be Released In August

The Terminal List is currently at #6 on...

Tom Hanks' acclaimed historical drama series John Adams is becoming a hit all over again thanks to a streaming resurgence. Paul Giamatti played the title character — one of America's founding fathers and second president — in the 2008 HBO series.

Per FlixPatrol, John Adams has rocketed back into Max's top 10 streaming shows as of Sunday, July 6. While the sudden streaming surge may have been sparked by the July 4 holiday weekend, it's still an impressive feat considering John Adams is 17 years old.

Hanks executive produced John Adams along with his long-time Playtone partner Gary Goetzman. The pair enlisted screenwriter Kirk Ellis (Anne Frank: The Whole Story) to adapt author David McCullough's 2001 biography John Adams, which won the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

Director Tom Hooper also had his international breakthrough on the series, after getting his start working in British TV. He would later win a Best Director Oscar for...

HBO has long been a cornerstone of consistently compelling and well-made programming, whether it's movies, documentaries, TV shows, or, perhaps the best of both worlds, a miniseries. The premium network is well known for their particularly impressive roster of miniseries since its inception in 1972, and they've continued to up the ante with what they've produced even in just the last five years. In fact, it seems like every year there's at least one major miniseries achievement for the channel.

There have been so many excellent series over time that it actually seems quite daunting to choose only 10 in a list of the best HBO miniseries, but honestly, if we didn't, this list would just end up encompassing quite literally most of the HBO miniseries catalog. Plus, it can at times feel impossible to put them in a definitive order because they're all so good, but someone's gotta do it.

Here are the 10 best HBO miniseries,...

Seventeen years ago, Paul Giamatti earned his first Emmy for playing the second president.

The actor portrays the titular politician in director Tom Hooper’s seven-part HBO miniseries John Adams, which chronicles the initial 50 years in American history. Adapting author David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, John Adams continued Hooper’s collaboration with HBO that began with the Emmy-winning 2005 miniseries Elizabeth I, starring Helen Mirren.

Hooper, who would later win the best director Oscar for 2010’s The King’s Speech, was looking for an actor to properly convey the demons surrounding the Founding Father known for helping to draft the Declaration of Independence and serving as the nation’s first vice president under George Washington before being elected to a single term as commander in chief. “[Giamatti] fit the sense I had of Adams as an antihero, to explore the flaws of the man in addition to his greatness,” the director has said.

One can only marvel at Nicole Kidman’s astuteness. The actress and producer wanted to know where I was scooting off to after the Kering/Festival de Cannes Women in Motion dinner Sunday night. When I started to tell her about the afterparty for Akinola Davies Jr’s My Father’s Shadow, her eyes lit up.

“That’s one of the hits of the festival, right? First-time director, shot in Nigeria, right?”

Kidman then proceeded to quiz me about the movie and the filmmaker siblings Akinola and Wale Davies, who penned the script together.

She would’ve loved the party on the beach thrown jointly for My Father’s Shadow and Harry Lighton’s biker romance Pillion.

During his presentation to Kidman, Cannes fest chief Thierry Frémaux hailed her as the “Barefoot Queen of Cannes” because of her propensity to whip off her heels whenever possible. “Yeah, but you’re not allowed to do that now,...

Hi there, hope you’re enjoying the opening Cannes week. Jesse Whittock here to curate the big news from the sunny Croisette and elsewhere. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Crusie In Cannes

Tom Cruise on the Palais red carpet

Workers rights and ‘The Final Reckoning’: Cannes 2025 opened this week in almost identical fashion to last year’s edition: With a tepidly reviewed French movie and staff protests. Amélie Bonnin’s Leave One Day was the movie this year, and Cannes staffers represented by the unofficial union Sous Les Écrans La Dèche were present at the opening night gala with placards and posters. The staffers were once again protesting to raise awareness about what they have described as their unfair working conditions. They’re hoping to finally be included in France’s unique scheme for seasonal cultural workers, which grants benefits like unemployment pay. Last-minute talks between Cannes and the French government broke down,...

Good afternoon Insiders, welcome to another weekly dose of news in what has turned out to be a busy ol’ May. Max Goldbart with you this week penning the newsletter. Sign up here.

Tariff Shocker

Trump card: “Tariff” is a word that has entered the daily lexicon over the past few weeks, but the industry was still blindsided when Donald Trump set out a plan (via Truth Social) to impose 100% tariffs on film imports Sunday. It’s been quite the rollercoaster since and the sector is spooked. “It’s insane,” was the simple response leading our international reax piece, which is well worth a peruse. What started as a ranty proposal made on social media that appeared to reflect Trump’s hatred for California governor Gavin Newsom as much as his desire to return production to America, became a more codified plan when Deadline revealed Trump and his Hollywood compadre...

Natalie Portman has booked her next movie role!

On Thursday (May 8), it was announced that the 43-year-old Oscar-winning actress will be playing pioneering DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin in the new movie Photograph 51 from Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper.

Inspired by a true story, Photograph 51 “will uncover the story behind the brilliant scientist whose pioneering work in x-ray crystallography captured the image that revealed DNA’s double-helix structure, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for all known life. The movie poses the question how could Watson and Crick, scientists working on the same conundrum in a competing lab, have been awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery without even a mention of her name?” according to Deadline.

Keep reading to find out more…“Franklin has come to be known variously as as the ‘wronged heroine’, the ‘dark lady of DNA’, the ‘forgotten heroine’, a ‘feminist icon’, and the ‘Sylvia Plath of...

Following 2019's Cats, Tom Hooper is returning to the director's chair for his next feature. According to Deadline, Hooper is helming a film adaptation of Anna Ziegler's play Photograph 51, which follows the true story of British scientist Rosalind Franklin. Ziegler will adapt her script for the movie, which is now set to star Natalie Portman as Franklin. Hooper will bring the project to the Cannes Film Market this year. The play follows Franklin, a British science pioneer, who played a groundbreaking role in the discovery of DNA's double-helix structure in the 1950s. Photograph 51 offers an intriguing portrait of a complex, courageous woman who makes her way in a male-dominated field. As rival teams of researchers compete for a breakthrough, Franklin,...

Here’s another buzzy package for the Cannes market, which sees Tom Hooper return to direct something for the first time since the 2019 debacle “Cats.”

Read More: Gal Gadot & Matthias Schoenaerts Will Star In Director Niko Caro’s Post-wwii Thriller ‘Ruin’

Deadline reports that Hooper will direct Natalie Portman in “Photograph 51,” a biopic about the brilliant British DNA scientist Rosalind Franklin.

Continue reading ‘Photograph 51’: Tom Hooper To Direct Natalie Portman In Biopic About Brilliant British DNA Scientist at The Playlist.

Exclusive: In what is lining up to be one of hotter packages at this year’s Cannes market, we can reveal that Oscar winner Natalie Portman is set to star in Photograph 51 for The King’s Speech director Tom Hooper.

Oscar winner Hooper is directing the pic which is inspired by the true story of Rosalind Franklin, the groundbreaking British scientist who first unveiled the hidden structure of DNA but whose legacy has been overshadowed. Anna Ziegler is adapting the script, which is based on her play of the same title.

Photograph 51 will uncover the story behind the brilliant scientist whose pioneering work in x-ray crystallography captured the image that revealed DNA’s double-helix structure, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for all known life. The movie poses the question how could Watson and Crick, scientists working on the same conundrum in a competing lab, have been awarded the Nobel...

BBC soap EastEnders will receive a special award from BAFTA TV this year.

EastEnders, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, will be celebrated for a commitment to nurturing new talent at the Craft Awards in London, as the show is handed one of the body’s highest honors.

Huge names including Tom Hooper, Sarah Phelps and Dominic Treadwell-Collins have worked on the soap, along with younger stars like BAFTA-winning writer Nicôle Lecky, writer and actress Emer Kenny and actor Tosin Cole (Supacell).

Airing since 1985, EastEnders charts the goings-on in the fictional East London town of Walford. It has been one of the BBC’s most popular continuing dramas for four decades.

Charlotte Moore, Outgoing Chief Content Officer at the BBC, said: “We are thrilled that BAFTA has awarded EastEnders with the Television Craft Special Award. It’s a testament to all those working behind the scenes who produce a continuing...

Amanda Seyfried recalls her time on Les Misérables and says she was not quite ready for the challenging role.

The actress played Cosette in the epic period musical film directed by Tom Hooper. In it, she had to sing live, which she found “infuriating.”

“Les Mis was an incredible movie. I loved it. The costumes, the people… We were all really happy to be there, but I, unfortunately, was not technically ready or capable of the live singing in the way that I would’ve liked to be,” Seyfried reflected during an interview with GQ.

She continued, “The process was infuriating. I knew what I had to sing, but they were hard songs. And the acting part of it came naturally and I loved it.”

Seyfried also said she was “worried” about her accent, adding, “But that was the least of my worries.” She noted that having “to be very...

Simon Fisher-Becker, a British actor who had a recurring role in Doctor Who, died Sunday. He was 63.

His death was announced by his husband on Facebook. The actor’s agent confirmed the news in a statement shared with Deadline. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Fisher-Becker appeared as Dorium Maldovar in three episodes of Doctor Who, as well as spinoff audio episodes of the BBC and Disney+ sci-fi series.

He featured in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as Hufflepuff ghost Fat Friar. Other credits include Tom Hooper’s 2012 pic Les Misérables, TV’s Waterside, BBC comedy Puppy Love and BBC drama Doctors.

“I have some very sad news. At 2:50 this afternoon Simon passed away,” Fisher-Becker’s husband Tony wrote on Facebook.

Deadline Related Video:

Kim Barry, an agent at Jaffrey Management, said: “Today I lost not only a client in Simon Fisher-Becker, but a close personal friend of 15 years standing.

Turns out, when you’ve won Best Picture, most of the time, the only place you can go after that high is down.

Opening this weekend at the box office is “Mickey 17,” the first film from director Bong Joon Ho since his film won Best Picture for “Parasite” back in 2019. “Parasite” was something of a unicorn, an international film that crossed all borders and became a $259 million global commercial hit and an awards circuit sensation. Even with Robert Pattinson helping his cause, that’s going to be a tough benchmark to surpass. Warner Bros. is projecting a $40-50 million global opening weekend.

The difference this time is director Bong is working with a major studio, Warner Bros., rather than indie distributor Neon, and “Mickey 17” will open wide on 3,400 screens domestically, whereas “Parasite” at its peak only hit 2,000.

But when a director’s movie wins Best Picture, does their next one perform better?...

Francis Ford Coppola "won" Worst Director at the Razzie Awards for his ambitious, self-financed epic Megalopolis. And he actually accepted the "honor," letting the Razzies and Hollywood know what he thinks about them in an unfiltered social media post. "I am thrilled to accept the Razzie Award," he stated, "when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!"

Coppola, a five-time Oscar winner, continued, "In this wreck of a world today, where Art is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to Not follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now." He said it was an honor to "stand alongside a great and courageous filmmaker like Jacques Tati who impoverished himself completely...

The Academy Awards are the most prestigious ceremony in Hollywood and are tasked with recognizing the greatest achievements in cinema within a given year. While the ceremony allows the cast and crew of films to be recognized by a community of their peers, it also serves as a great opportunity to showcase the art of filmmaking to a larger audience. While the Oscars don’t always recognize the single greatest film each year, they generally make good decisions by honoring projects that are worthy of accolades.

Unfortunately, the Best Picture lineup each year tends to have at least one film that is clearly not of the same quality level as its fellow competitors. This issue has grown even more prevalent due to a change that occurred at the 2010 Academy Awards ceremony, in which the lineup was extended to ten nominees. It’s disappointing that the Oscars would choose to dedicate...

Was Taylor Swift’s Les Misérables audition a total disaster? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Taylor Swift opened up on The Graham Norton Show during her Midnights press tour, revealing the behind-the-scenes chaos that led to her missing out on a role in Tom Hooper’s 2012 adaptation of the classic musical.

Swift, who had the “look of Cosette and the range vocally of Éponine,” was up for two roles in the film. She knew she wasn’t likely to get the part but decided to go for the experience of a lifetime. “They asked if I would like to go to London to do a screen test with Eddie, who is one of my favorite actors, and I thought, ‘This isn’t an experience I am going to get again in my life,’ so I said yes.”

Swift flew out to meet Eddie Redmayne, who had already been cast as Marius, but things quickly turned south.

For those with Hollywood dreams, whether it's acting in films or directing them, their biggest aspiration may be to win an Oscar. "Academy Award winner" would be forever attached to their name, and presumably, doors would open in their careers that had never opened before.

While the Oscars certainly recognize performers and filmmakers for their exceptional talents and place them in a class above the rest, they also bring high expectations. After winning, there will always be pressure to live up to that title, which may be impossible to achieve again. This is part of the dreaded "Oscar curse." What happens after you've achieved the biggest honor in Hollywood?

Oscar campaigns and wins can be just as much of a story as the movies themselves. Hollywood's publicity machine spins a specific narrative to help an artist win the coveted award — the higher the stakes or the more cultural impact, the better.

Director's jail isn't like the regular one, since it operates under Hollywood's own convoluted "justice" system. A singular box office flop could result in a life sentence for a filmmaker where they're covertly blacklisted from the industry, never ever working on a big studio movie again. It's harsh -- but no one ever said that Tinseltown is a fair or forgiving place.

What's wild is how Hollywood doesn't take history into consideration here. A director could pump out five financially successful films in a row and have one dud, but that's it -- off to director's jail they go. Heck, at times, movies are doomed to fail before they're even made, but the filmmaker gets the blame in the end. Look at "Catwoman" and "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" as notorious examples. There are shopping lists with more substance than those scripts, and not even Steven Spielberg could have saved them.

Unfortunately, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is somewhat notorious for its unique ability to make confounding and often times anger-inducing selections when choosing the Oscar winners each year. Film fans angrily expressing their dismay at the Academy's choices on the night of the awards has become something of a historic tradition. When it comes to the 21st century, though, one particular blunder stands above the rest: Tom Hooper triumphing over David Fincher in the 2010 Best Director race.

The gold-plated meltdown that has followed the revelation of Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón’s past anti-Muslim and racist tweets — with anti-George Floyd and pro-Hitler sentiments thrown in — has now required numerous apologies/explanations from the Best Actress Oscar nominee. Gascón’s previous online remarks have seriously cratered the odds for her and her film, which is nominated for 13 Oscars. The journalist and podcaster who uncovered Gascón’s troubling social media posts insists it was good old-fashioned reporting and she was not a “studio plant” fueling a smear campaign underwritten by a rival nominee.

In any case Gascón’s self-inflicted mess is the latest example of an internet-powered scandal that has threatened to derail an Oscar campaign. Here’s a look at the four most notable examples this century and how they played out.

Green Book (2018)

As this fact-based drama — about a blue-collar bouncer who chauffeured a Black...

Ninety-six films have won the Academy Award for Best Picture since the first Oscars ceremony was held in 1928, and it’s never been easier to watch every Best Picture Oscar winner, should you choose to do so. Thanks to the technological innovations of streaming, all of these winners – some all-time classics, some retroactive headscratchers – are available to watch online.

This year, several Best Picture contenders are already streaming. But before the 97th Best Picture winner is crowned on March 12, you could choose some past winners to catch up with from our list of where to watch every Best Picture Oscar winner – from Wings to Oppenheimer and everything in between.

2024: Oppenheimer

The Barbenheimer phenomenon helped raise Christopher Nolan‘s unlikely blockbuster to Best Picture glory. It’s available to stream on Prime Video and to rent on Amazon, Apple TV, and other platforms

2023: Everything Everywhere All at Once

The...

Musical movies have an extremely variable track record when it comes to box office and critical reviews. 2024 was a good year for the movie musical just based on one film alone: Wicked. An adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, Wicked received rave reviews, and has been considered a frontrunner for Oscar nominations. The film has also done tremendously well at the box office, making over $648 million and counting. This positions the musical as the no. 6 movie of the year at the worldwide box office at the time of writing.

Not all movie musical, unfortunately, have had the same fervent support as Wicked had this year. Even movies adapted from incredibly popular Broadway musicals can flounder, as evidenced by the critically panned box office flop Dear Evan Hansen in 2021, which grossed a mere $19.1 million worldwide. Wicked director Jon M. Chu's own In the Heights also struggled...

Try not to cry folks, but a movie many call one of the worst films of all-time is leaving Netflix in January. That means your days are numbered to relive the magic of a certain film based on an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical which features the likes of Taylor Swift in its cast. Send those streaming numbers up guys before this feline frenzy is no longer able to be watched, admired and dissected on their platform.

As hard as this is to announce, the 2019 big screen adaptation of the musical Cats is leaving Netflix very soon. 2024 has been an incredible year for musicals, thanks mostly to the soaring box office of Wicked - Part One. However, 2019 was a very different story for this big screen Broadway adaptation. There is likely an audience for the much-maligned Cats, either from people who found those creepy CGI fur effects appealing (I'm sure they're...

In 1981, Andrew Lloyd Webber - for some godforsaken reason - thought it would be a cute, clever, and fun idea to write a musical based on T.S. Eliot’s poetry book, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Who knows what The Phantom of the Opera composer was thinking but - even stranger - the musical became an overnight hit, celebrating a Broadway run of nearly two decades. Then, in an even more bizarre and bonkers decision, filmmaker Tom Hooper jumped on-board with Universal’s adaptation of the stage production in 2019, bringing the story of the Jellicle cats and their weird death ball to the big-screen. The movie is one of the most memorable titles of the last decade, but for all the wrong reasons. However, if you haven’t seen the pure nightmare fuel film, you’ll want to head over to Netflix before it leaves Netflix on January...

Composer and impresario Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the most well-known names in musical theater and, thanks to some notable movie adaptations, he's also known in film circles as well. The London-born Andrew Lloyd Webber began his career collaborating on the Oliver!-inspired musical The Likes of Us with Tim Rice. That musical ended up failing to gain a backer and, after some more attempts to get something off the ground, he finally was able to produce Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the musical that would launch him into stardom.

Since then, Webber has helped fund and create songs for some of the most recognizable musicals ever, including Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, The Phantom of the Opera (1986), The Wizard of Oz (2011), and School of Rock (2015). He's won one Academy Award and been nominated three times, gone 3 for 15 at the Grammys, won a Golden Globe, and won 6 Tonys out of 23 nominations.

Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi masterpiece Inception is moving to a new streaming home in the new year. This January, fans of the director of films like Dunkirk, Interstellar, and Oppenheimer will be able to revisit his 2010 masterpiece starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, and many more.

Without question one of Nolan’s best features, Inception lands on Netflix on New Year's Day. You’ll be able to enjoy the leftovers from New Year’s Eve while watching Nolan’s mind-bending sci-fi thriller. Sure, it’s a bit complicated to watch during a day when you just want to take a break from all responsibilities, but it’s all worth it. Inception officially hits Netflix on Jan. 1, 2025.

In Inception, Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) leads a group of criminals who practice a different kind of espionage. Using a device that can take their minds into someone else’s dreams,...

If you're looking for a movie to watch that is guaranteed to make you truly feel something, you can do worse than watching one of the films set to leave Netflix in less than a month. The holiday season is the perfect time of year for movie watching, especially fun, heartwarming films that the whole family can enjoy. Christmas classics like Home Alone, Elf, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Die Hard are sure to entertain even the most frozen of hearts during the winter season.

Not every film watched over the holidays has to be a masterpiece, though, and even the ones that end up falling a bit short are perfect for the time of year with family and friends, particularly when it's one that's guaranteed to unite the family and inspire hours of discussion. After all, what is cinema without the conversations afterward about the best moments, weird mistakes,...

Wicked Box Office (Worldwide): Beats Les Misérables’ Global Haul( Photo Credit – Instagram )

The second installment of Wicked’s title has been recently revealed while the people are still engulfed in the first film’s magic. The movie is still astonishing with its dominating presence and keeps setting new records daily. It has now surpassed the global total of Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway starrer Les Misérables’ worldwide collection. Scroll below for the deets.

Les Misérables is a 2012 epic period musical movie directed by Tom Hooper based on the stage musical of the same name. It features an ensemble cast led by Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen. The supporting cast includes Samantha Barks, Aaron Tveit, and Daniel Huttlestone. The movie is set in France during the early 19th century, and Anne Hathaway won the Oscar for her performance in a supporting role.

Universal has been vindicated, thanks to the witches of Oz and the tenacity of studio chief and top NBCUniversal executive Donna Langley.

Over the Nov. 22-24 weekend, director Jon M. Chu‘s Wicked opened to an estimated $114 million domestically, the biggest box office launch of all time for a Broadway adaptation in a landslide victory, considering that the previous record holder, Into the Woods, opened to $31 million, not adjusted for inflation.

Moreover, it’s the fourth-biggest domestic opening among any musical behind three marquee Disney titles.

It couldn’t be a more welcome result for Universal, which was left badly bruised when Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper’s Cats adaptation turned into a box office debacle in 2019. The movie opened to just $6.6 million before topping out at $25.2 million domestically and $75.6 million globally. Langley and her team, however, remained steadfast in sticking with making two Wicked movies (Chu’s sequel debuts a year from now).

“With Wicked,...

There's no question that as soon as it premiered, Game of Thrones quickly became the blueprint for fantasy television. Like all massively popular and successful TV series, a slew of copycat shows cropped up after Game of Thrones premiered, and fantasy television entered mainstream spheres once again. Television has always been a great place for speculative fiction, and Game of Thrones was a reminder of this for the 21st century. Though the series is often defined by the sex and violence that punctuate so many of the episodes, the political intrigue and well-paced character arcs are just as critical.

One of the biggest criticisms of Game of Thrones was that it was a fantasy TV that wasted its potential. The final season of Game of Thrones was panned by both critics and audiences for failing its characters and narrative momentum. However, this doesn't change how influential the series was and...

Some fantasy TV was amazing from the very first scene, ensnaring viewers with a wild opening and keeping them gripped long after it finished. Shows like Game of Thrones and Supernatural demonstrated the "in medias res" technique well, throwing the audience straight into the action and then dialing it back a notch to allow for some calm before the next storm. Meanwhile, other fantasy TV shows opened more peacefully but very swiftly demonstrated their vivid world-building and danger. Regardless, first scenes often say it all about the production to come.

Some of the best characters in fantasy were introduced in episode 1 of their respective shows, but not at first, with a key mystery suggested in the first scene instead. Presenting an enigma in a fantasy movie or TV show's first scene is a tried-and-true way to tease the viewer and set up one of the show's later plot points. From...

Moviegoers, get ready. This November promises to be one of the most competitive months at the multiplex since the summer, with a handful of big-ticket event films getting ultra-wide releases as the Thanksgiving holiday approaches. As for whether these movies will be worth your time, we've already heard some enthusiastic reactions to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator II," and been duly warned that Robert Zemeckis' "Here" is not where it's at. We should also be getting social media reactions to "Red One" and "Moana 2" any day now, but today is "Wicked" day on Twitter.

Before we check the tweets, keep in mind that John M. Chu's adaptation of the beloved, long-running Broadway musical riff on "The Wizard of Oz" has been viewed, sight-unseen, with tremendous skepticism due to its 160-minute runtime. Given that Chu's first "Wicked" film is just half of the story (with "Wicked Part Two" due to...

Hugh Jackman is returning to the New York stage in 2025. He’s performing a 12-concert residency at Radio City Music Hall, where the showman is expected to curate a career retrospective.

Jackman will showcase songs from “The Boy From Oz,” The Greatest Showman” and “The Music Man,” as well as “surprises from his career,” according to the official release. Other musical roles of Jackman’s have included Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables” movie adaptation and Off Broadway and West End revivals of “Oklahoma!” and “Carousel.” The 55-year-old Australian has mounted one-man shows in the past like “The Man. The Music. The Show” world tour in 2019 and “Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway” in 2011.

This series, titled “From New York With Love,” will kick off at the famed venue on the weekend of Jan. 24, 2025, and will continue through select weekends in April, May, June, and July with the final shows on Aug.

On the surface, Anne Hathaway and Charlie Hunnam embody very different spheres of Hollywood storytelling. The latter's well-known roles in action-packed projects like Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim have made Hunnam known for a dark, grittier persona in recent years, while Hathaway's corporate innocence in The Devil Wears Prada and classic turn as the baffled Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries have made her synonymous with down-to-earth yet assertive heroines. The last decade has also seen Hathaway transition into more morally complex, darker characters with her role as Fantine in Tom Hooper's Les Misrables and the more recent The Idea of You, but those wishing to relive the nostalgia of both actors' early days can watch them tackle a very different kind of aristocracy in 2002's rich Victorian drama Nicholas Nickleby.

Movie studios analyze the market to figure out which movies they should bet big on, but sometimes the market throws up some surprises, and sure-fire hits turn into box office bombs. Movies with great casts, big franchise recognition and exciting ideas can still end up falling short of expectations. In the most extreme cases, this can have knock-on effects which force studios to scrap other movies or shut down entirely.

Even huge franchises like Star Wars and the MCU aren't immune to the odd box office bomb. These are often among the most costly flops, since they have such big budgets and marketing costs. Some box office bombs can salvage their reputations, but money talks in the movie industry. One big misfire can cause financial chaos for the studios involved, even if it looked as if the odds were in their favor.

Related 20 Biggest Box Office Bombs Of All Time...

Rebel Wilson decided to direct after working on 'Cats'.The 44-year-old actress played Jennyanydots in Tom Hooper's 2019 adaptation of Sir Andew Lloyd Webber's stage musical and she revealed she was encouraged to get behind the camera after disagreeing with the director on some aspects of filming.She told The Hollywood Reporter: "I went up to the director and said, ‘I’m just not sure you’re doing it right,’ and a female producer who’d witnessed the exchange came over to me and said I think you should direct a movie one day."Now Rebel only wants to direct musicals after making her directorial debut with Australian comedy ‘The Deb,' and she has plans to follow it up with another musical movie.She said: "When I was a teenager, it was a pretty dark time, and I got to see a musical at 14 years of age, because my dog auditioned for it.

The Zurich Film Festival will honor Swedish actor Alicia Vikander, who won an Oscar with “The Danish Girl,” during its 20th edition, which runs Oct. 3-13.

Vikander will accept the festival’s Golden Eye Award on Oct. 8 when she presents the Swiss premiere of her new film “The Assessment,” which is directed by Fleur Fortuné.

“The Assessment,” in which she stars opposite Elizabeth Olsen, tells the story of a society striving for perfection, living in a world devastated by climate change, trying to optimize life – including the assessment of parenthood. A couple is examined by an assessor for seven days to determine their suitability to have children.

The award recognizes her “outstanding acting performance and her consistently courageous and clever choice of roles,” as demonstrated in auteur films and blockbusters alike, including “Ex Machina,” “The Danish Girl,” “Anna Karenina,” “Jason Bourne,” “The Green Knight” and “Tomb Raider.”

In 2015, she was...

Alicia Vikander will be feted with the Zurich Film Festival’s Golden Eye Award at its upcoming 20th edition, running from October 3 to 13.

Vikander will be handed the award on October 8 before presenting the Swiss premiere of her new film The Assessment by the director Fleur Fortuné.

Vikander’s credits include Ex Machina, The Danish Girl, Anna Karenina, Jason Bourne, The Green Knight, and Tomb Raider. In 2015, she won an Oscar for her performance as Gerda Wegener in Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl. Her performance also landed her a SAG Award and Critics Choice Award.

“I am incredibly honoured to be receiving the Golden Eye Award at Zurich Film Festival and proud to be amongst such a talented list of past honourees,” Vikander has said. “I was last there in 2017, for the Zff Masters and premiere of Euphoria, and I’m so pleased to be returning to the festival once again this year.

The Umbrella Academy star David Castaneda expresses his personal pride in the hit series' divisive ending.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Castaneda made a recent appearance on the I've Never Said This Before With Tommy Didario podcast, during which he discussed the Umbrella Academy's finale and his reaction to seeing the script for the first time. "When [I got] the pages, I was kind of hoping they were dummy sides," Castaneda recalled. Despite his initial shock at the turn the series would be taking, Castaneda added that he is "very proud of how this whole thing played out. I'm really happy with the work that we all did during Season 4."

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Indie comic series like Deadly Class, Locke & Key, and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys just might fill that hole left by The Umbrella Academy.

Based on Gerard Way and Gabriel B...

The Umbrella Academy wrapped up its final season in a wild way, though fans are a little bit miffed at one character not returning. Why were they Mia?

Caution: This article contains Spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 4.

We're talking about Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez), the Sparrow that Luther (Tom Hooper) falls in love with and marries in season 3. That season ends with Luther briefly dying only to be resurrected into this new world minus his super-strength and mutated body, but Sloane is not with him.

Given how important she is to Luther, Sloane’s absence this season is notable, so what happened?

Why isn't Sloane in The Umbrella Academy finale?

Speaking to TV Line, showrunner Steve Blackman explained he had a plan to use Sloane in season 4 but was held back by logistics. The season only had six episodes rather than the 10 episodes of the previous seasons, which sadly meant cutting out some plot points.

This story contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 4.

Although The Umbrella Academy ended tragically, David Castaeda is not ruling out hope for the last scenes featuring his character, Diego Hargreeves. Since this actor started right at the beginning, he has witnessed all the show's crests and troughs. Adapted from a comic series by Gerard Way, this superhero show revolves around a group of superheroes who were children years ago but now find it extremely difficult to handle all the hassles of being adults while saving the universe.

By the end of The Umbrella Academy's final season, it is revealed that all the Hargreaves children will eventually sacrifice themselves to save the universe from a myriad of impending apocalypses. In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Castaeda discussed how the post-credits scene impacted him and what he believes it means.

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The Umbrella...

In this week’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast host Mike DeAngelo powers up to discuss “The Umbrella Academy.” The Netflix series follows a group of former child superheroes that must reluctantly reunite again and again to save the world. The final season stars Elliot Page, Robert Sheehan, Tom Hooper, Nick Offerman, David Cross, Megan Mullally, and more.

Read More: ‘Sunny’: Rashida Jones Talks Her Retro-Futuristic Sci-Fi Drama, A Potential’ Parks & Recreation’ Reunion & More [Bingeworthy Podcast]

Joining Bingeworthy to discuss the superhero series is one of the show’s stars, Robert Sheehan, who plays Klaus.

Continue reading ‘The Umbrella Academy’: Robert Sheehan Talks Final Season Of The Superhero Series, ’Red Sonja,’ & More [Bingeworthy Podcast] at The Playlist.