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Exclusive: The new BET+ Original film The Deadly Getaway is set to premiere on May 9. The MegaMind Media-produced thriller stars Jason Weaver, Yandy Smith, Jeff Logan and Princess Love.

The Deadly Getaway tells the story of an upwardly mobile couple traveling to a glamorous campsite destination for a romantic weekend getaway that quickly turns nightmarish. Jacob (Weaver) plans to propose to his girlfriend of two years, Hope (Smith), but the arrival of her obsessive ex-boyfriend, Derrick (Logan), and his girlfriend, Jada (Tressa Azarel Smallwood) complicates things.

Tensions and jealousy mount as Derrick becomes inappropriate with his flirtations. Things get even worse when the owners of the Away Pod go missing and Hope discovers Derrick has a dark secret he’s keeping from them all. Wanted by the police for a botched robbery and murder, there’s nothing Derrick won’t do to protect his secret even if it means killing his precious Hope.

Every year around Christmas, Phoenix Theatres puts all of its chips on one major tentpole, gambling on a movie so big, so broadly appealing, it’ll keep auditoriums stocked into the new year. In the recent past, the Midwest-based chain has gone all in on 2022’s “Avatar: The Way of Water,” 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and 2019’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

But this holiday season is different. For the first time in more than a decade, excluding the pandemic-stricken 2020, there’s no surefire blockbuster with the potential to gross $1 billion globally to cap off the year.

“You can’t look at the release schedule between now and the end of the year and find one movie that stands out like ‘Avatar’ as the big film,” says Phoenix Theatres owner Cory Jacobson.

“Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom,” the follow-up to 2018’s megahit “Aquaman,” should be that big bet.

Shaquita Smith, known for her breakout role in AllBlk’s supernatural drama series Wicked City, has signed with The Green Room for management.

Smith starred as Jordan Davis alongside Vanessa Bell Calloway, Taylor Polidore, Mercedez McDowell, Chantal Maurice and Chanel Mack, in Wicked City, directed by Dale S. Lewis and executive produced by Tressa “Azarel” Smallwood and Donte Lee.

Smith also guest-starred in television series including New Amsterdam, NCIS: New Orleans, Hap & Leonard, Homicide Hunter and Survivor’s Remorse, among others.

She most recently was seen starring in BET+ rom-com, My Valentine Crush, directed by Christopher A. Nolen, alongside Travis Cure and Jeff Logan.

Smith continues to be repped by Amy Lord at Eris Talent Agency and Noonie Relations.

Exclusive: Zimzon Zion has joined the cast of Allblk’s Double Cross as a series regular for Season 5. He will portray Detective Tate, a noble man with a strong sense of morals and ethics.

As Deadline revealed exclusively on Thursday, Double Cross was renewed by the AMC streamer for an all-new season alongside other hits Terror Lake Drive, Wicked City and Hush.

From the sibling writing duo Christel and Howard Gibson, Double Cross follows the vigilante “Wonder Twins,” Erica and Eric Cross, played by Ashley A. Williams and Jeff Logan respectively, as crime fighters who continue their crusade against child trafficking no matter the cost. This season the duo is faced with a case hitting extremely close to home as Eric’s newborn son is kidnapped. Meanwhile, the twins discover a bus full of elementary school children has mysteriously vanished. With the stakes higher than ever it will take a...

Exclusive: AMC Networks streaming service, AllBlk, has renewed four of its most popular series: Double Cross, Terror Lake Drive, Hush and Wicked City.

The vigilante “Wonder Twins,” are back as Double Cross returns for its fifth season. Ashley A. Williams and Jeff Logan will reprise their roles as crime fighters Erica and Eric Cross, respectively, and continue their crusade against child trafficking no matter the cost. This season the duo is faced with a case hitting extremely close to home as Eric’s newborn son is kidnapped. Meanwhile, the twins discover a bus full of elementary school children has mysteriously vanished. With the stakes higher than ever it will take a village to get everyone home safely.

Hush, which has been renewed for a second season set to premiere in November, follows the story of top marriage and sex therapist, TV personality, and best-selling author, Dr. Draya Logan (Joyful Drake...

Jeff Logan is feeling relieved.

For the first time since Covid shuttered movie theaters, business is booming, with audiences flocking to see “John Wick: Chapter 4,” “Scream VI” and, just last weekend, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” And Logan, who owns Logan Luxury Theatres in rural South Dakota, is back in the black after enduring two years where profits vanished while studios failed to furnish enough big movies to play.

“It’s nice,” he says. “We don’t have to reassure our bankers every time we meet for coffee.”

Logan’s theaters aren’t the only ones experiencing a dramatic change of fortunes. Overall, the domestic box office stands at $2.3 billion, up 36.8% from the same period last year and an astounding 589.5% improvement over 2021, according to Comscore. The exhibition industry is finally looking like its pre-pandemic self again. That’s partly attributable to studios releasing new installments of successful franchises, but...

Exclusive: Shaquita Smith (Wicked City) will front a Valentine’s Day movie for Paramount Global’s BET+ opposite Travis Cure (The Oval) and Jeff Logan (Double Cross).

My Valentine Crush is a rom-com in which a woman (Smith) makes an unexpected connection with an internet technician (Cure), leading her to have a Valentine’s Day she’ll never forget and evaluate her current relationship with her boyfriend (Logan).

Supporting cast is Dawn Halfkenny (The Family Business), Monti Washington (Bruh), Tiffany Snow (Just As I Am), Jenean Coleman (Merry Switchmas) and Ta’Rhonda Jones (Empire).

Christopher A. Nolen is the director. Cassandra Mann is the writer and executive producers are Devin Griffin and Maureen Guthman. Co-executive producers are Lorisa Bates and Marvin Neil and consulting producers John Baldasare, Noelle Broussard and Rene Rodriguez-Lopez. Nolen and Loretta Edwards Wilson are the producers.

The film forms part of BET+’s Valentine’s Day romcom line-up,...

The biggest hit on Allblk's streaming network returns with an all-new season, and we have an exclusive first look.

Double Cross is back for its fourth season, and it promises to be one of the biggest and most thrilling yet.

What could possibly be in store for the Wonder Twins now?

There is nothing like some vigilante justice, and Double Cross always delivers a heaping dose of it with its stars, a sibling duo who decides to take matters into their own hands when their neighborhood is flooded with sex trafficking.

When a series of cases take over Erica's emergency room, she takes matters into her own hands.

It also requires enlisting the help of Eric, who happens to be the neighborhood's biggest drug pin.

In the fourth season, the sibling duo has their work cut out for them.

The synopsis for the fourth season teases that "Erica must...

Let’s get one thing out of the way: “Avatar: The Way of Water,” a sequel to the highest-grossing movie in history, is poised to be another box office smash for director James Cameron and Disney, which now owns the rights to Pandora and its inhabitants. The follow-up, which opens in theaters on Dec. 16, looks to collect a mighty 150 million to 175 million in its first weekend of release.

For beleaguered movie theaters, the decades-in-the-making film can’t come soon enough. “It’s a very important movie,” says Brock Bagby, executive VP of B&b Theatres, a family-owned circuit based in Missouri. “We’re hopeful it works.”

But the Na’vi, as powerful and resilient as they may be, can’t prop up the movie theater business alone. Will any movies other than “Avatar 2” manage to succeed at the box office over the crucial holiday season?

After a dire Thanksgiving...

Double Cross stars Jeff Logan and Ashley A. Williams opened up about the pressure of showing off their bodies on camera. Both stars enjoy fitness and work out together, but had different views about the pressure of showing skin on television. “I think subconsciously you know you want to look good on camera. I think […]

The post Video Exclusive: ‘Double Cross’ Stars Jeff Logan & Ashley A. Williams On Showing Off Bodies On Camera appeared first on uInterview.

Double Cross stars Jeff Logan and Ashley A. Williams opened up about some of the craziest moments that happened on set in their new uInterview. For Williams, the craziest moment was when she first read the script for a scene where she would her fiancee’s used condom – in a very private place. “That’s nothing that I […]

The post Video Exclusive: ‘Double Cross’ Stars Jeff Logan & Ashley A. Williams On Craziest Moments On Set appeared first on uInterview.

Since reopening at the end of 2020, movie theaters have been trying to keep patrons safe from Covid-19 by disinfecting after every screening. They bought up misters and foggers, along with untold volumes of cleaning chemicals, and carefully wiped down any surfaces where virus particles might collect.

But this aspect of theater hygiene has turned out to be little more than — well — hygiene theater. Experts have been saying since last year that the risk of surface transmission was tiny, and in April the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pegged the risk at just 1 in 10,000.

As a result, the National Association of Theatre Owners has quietly backed off its mandate to disinfect between each screen. In an update to its “CinemaSafe” guidelines last week, the trade organization advised that disinfecting should occur “consistent with existing CDC, state or local guidelines.” Those guidelines, as of early April, say it’s generally fine...

Jeff Logan, owner of Logan Luxury Theatres, has been struggling to make ends meet for most of 2020. After being closed for months due to coronavirus, he recently reopened the three movie theaters he runs in South Dakota, screening classics like Indiana Jones and Star Wars. But ticket sales are slow and Logan’s cinemas are not making enough to cover their rent.

Now, he’s concerned a new deal struck between Universal Pictures and AMC Theaters could deliver a gut punch. Under their pact, the two companies have agreed to shorten the amount of time that new movies from Universal play exclusively in AMC’s cinemas before customers can rent them at home. Logan, like many mom-and-pop theater owners across the country, is anxious that the nascent distribution model the powerful Hollywood studio and the world’s biggest exhibition chain have forged could upend their businesses and eat into their bottom lines.

Exclusive: Umc, the AMC Networks streaming service with a focus on Black film and TV, has renewed four of its original series including the top-rated Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy and A House Divided, which will both return for their third seasons.

The streamer also gave Season 2 renewals to rookies Double Cross and Stuck With You, part of a renewed focus on originals that has seen a new series premiere almost every month on the service in 2020. That has helped spur a subscriber surge of 200% over the past 12 months, according to the network, with about half that total coming since the coronavirus lockdown that began in March.

Debuting in May 2018, Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy follows four troubled couples who sign up for an experiment called “swap therapy” in order to determine if their relationships are worth saving or if they should walk away for good. The series stars Caryn Ward Ross,...

When movie theaters announced plans to reopen, their mission was simple: Convince audiences it will be safe to return to cinemas in the age of coronavirus.

That meant reducing seating capacity to help ensure physical distancing, implementing rigorous cleaning procedures and encouraging contact-less payments when possible. It involved a splashy ad campaign, boasting A-list filmmakers, reminding consumers of the pleasures of enjoying an oversized Coke, a tub of popcorn and the latest Hollywood blockbuster. Safety precautions, they claimed, would be state-of-the art. Medical experts from Harvard were enlisted and new technologies, such as high-end ventilation filters and electrostatic sprayers, would be tapped to keep theaters Covid-19 free.

And, of course, exhibitors would strongly recommend — but not require — audiences to wear masks.

Last week, AMC, Cinemark and Regal, the three biggest theater chains, said face coverings would not be mandatory if a particular city or country didn’t already require them.