Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been sentenced in absentia in Iran to one year in prison, according to his lawyer via the Afp news agency.

Panahi’s lawyer, Mostafa Nili, said the sentence includes a two-year travel ban and prohibition of Panahi from membership of any political or social groups. He added that they would file an appeal.

The charges against the filmmaker were that he had engaged in “propaganda activities” against the state, but Nili did not elaborate.

Variety has learned Panahi, who has been in the U.S. promoting his Cannes-winning film “It Was Just an Accident,” is expected to be at the Gotham Awards in New York City tonight. The director is nominated for best director and best original screenplay, and his film is nominated for best international feature. He is due to attend the Marrakech Film Festival on Thursday, where the film screens, and...

Paramount’s 2028 slate will include four pizza-loving turtles and a hedgehog.

The studio announced Monday that the untitled hybrid live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles feature from producer Neal H. Moritz will hit theaters Nov. 17, 2028. Additionally, an untitled film in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is set for theatrical release on Dec. 22, 2028.

The Hollywood Reporter reported last month that a Tmnt feature franchise reboot was in the works as the Skydance-owned studio was aiming to revitalize some of its popular IP. The poor performance of 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows previously put the brakes on development for live-action versions of the property that began as a comic book in the 1980s before spawning a popular animated series and toy line.

Paramount is set to release director Jeff Rowe’s sequel to its well-received animated feature Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem on Sept. 17, 2027. Counting Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as producers,...

“Zootopia 2” stuffed the box office competition over Thanksgiving.

Disney’s animated sequel, a buddy-cop comedy about anthropomorphic animals, debuted to $158 million in North America and $401 million overseas, delivering a stunning $559 million global tally over five days. The family film, which opened on Wednesday, cemented several records, including the fourth-biggest worldwide debut in box office history, as well as the largest global launch of all time for an animated film.

“The incredible response to ‘Zootopia 2’ reflects both its worldwide appeal and the remarkable work of our filmmakers and cast,” says Disney Entertainment co-chairman Alan Bergman. “It’s a proud moment for Disney Animation and all of us at Disney, not to mention a great way to start the holiday season.”

“Zootopia 2” is turbocharging the box office, which has been majorly struggling since the summer. This was the second consecutive weekend that movie theaters were booked and busy after...

In 1975, a 25-year-old Jeff Bridges starred opposite Sam Waterston in a comedy neo-Western that wasn't a hit upon its debut but has since earned some solid retrospective reviews. It's also kind of a cool watch if only to see what was happening with the Western in the mid-70s. Luckily, you can now stream the movie free on Tubi.

The 1970s has to be one of the most fascinating times for the Western genre. This was the decade when sci-fi became the new fascination, and Old West adventures quickly became old hat. As a result, the genre transmogrified in often strange and bizarre ways in what was the cultural equivalent...

Guillermo del Toro nailed it when he told Roar Uthaug during a recent conversation that his “Troll” movie showcased a playful blend of Norwegian sensibility and American flair.

Uthaug, whose anticipated Norwegian monster sequel “Troll 2” drops Monday on Netflix, grew up watching the same 1990s sci-fi and disaster movies that shaped a generation of Hollywood filmmakers.

“I got the idea for a troll movie like this back in the ’90s,” he tells Variety in an interview alongside Jenny Stjernströmer Björk, VP of Nordic content at Netflix. “That was after watching ‘Armageddon’ and ‘Independence Day’ and ‘Jurassic Park.’ I was thinking, ‘How could we do this in Norway? What would that be about?’”

He then stumbled on a century-old drawing by Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen portraying a troll striding down Oslo’s main street, and the idea for his action-adventure movie crystallized. “I thought, What would happen if a troll,...

Prime Video's sweeping fantasy series "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power" offers its own telling of J.R.R. Tolkien's stories set in the world of Middle-earth. Starting millennia before the events of "The Hobbit," "The Rings of Power" changes Tolkien's "Lotr" timeline in one key way by significantly compressing it. The history of Middle-earth is divided into three eras known as Ages, with "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" taking place in the Third Age. The majority of "The Rings of Power" takes place in the Second Age, albeit admittedly not always as explicitly chronicled in various published works by Tolkien describing the era.

For...

Jimmy Buffett was only ever about a good time. The singer-songwriter crooned about boozing and screwing with addled aplomb; he was also a marijuana advocate for most of his life (though he did stop toking in 2017). His devoted fanbase, known as Parrotheads, revered him as a champion of free, fun living. He was carefree and rarely one to judge. Get out, live your life, enjoy the ride, and when your journey gets a little rocky, it is always five o'clock somewhere.

I've always found Buffett's music to be lightweight and compositionally bland, but I understand the appeal of his ethos. I can't hate on anyone for digging on his vibe.

“Avatar: Fire and Ash” director James Cameron is weighing in on who should — and definitely shouldn’t — be the winning bidder in the highly publicized sale of Warner Bros. Discovery. The company currently has major offers on the table from Netflix, the newly merged Paramount Skydance, and Comcast.

Last week, during an appearance on Matt Belloni’s podcast “The Town,” the “Titanic” filmmaker echoed many industry experts’ view that Paramount, now under the direction of David Ellison, should be the next owner of Warner Bros. But he went one step further, saying point-blank that Netflix taking over the studio “would be a disaster.”

“Sorry, Ted [Sarandos], but geez,” Cameron said, referring to the CEO of the streaming giant. “Sarandos has gone on the record saying theatrical films are dead. ‘Theatrical is dead. Quote, unquote.’”

Cameron also criticized Sarandos’ publicly expressed belief that going to the theater to watch films is “an...

"Red One" didn't appear to be quite the success Amazon desired when it arrived in late 2024. But a year later, the movie is fulfilling its purpose as a major hit on Prime Video, where it's currently at number three on the streaming charts. It seems stars Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans got the evergreen Christmas hit they wanted after all.

"Red One" didn't have the best time at the box office in 2024, and it certainly didn't recoup its budget. But as /Film's Ryan Scott wrote at the time, calling "Red One" a flop isn't exactly fair. Amazon did spend a ridiculous $250 million on the movie, which, when coupled with the $100 million marketing spend,...

[Editor’s note: This interview was originally published during the 2025 New York Film Festival. “The Secret Agent” is now in theaters.]

The 2026 Oscar race is starting to resemble last year’s in at least one sense: The Cannes movies are doing well. They boast the prestige of either a competition berth or, better still, a prize, as Palme d’Or and eventual Best Picture Oscar-winner “Anora” did last year.

It’s still early days, but some fall festival hopefuls are losing steam. Three Venice premieres include box-office disappointment “The Smashing Machine” (A24), starring Dwayne Johnson as a mixed martial artist, critically flayed “After the Hunt” (Amazon/MGM) starring Julia Roberts, and show-business story “Jay Kelly” (Netflix), starring George Clooney. And two TIFF crowdpleasers could use a box office boost: the Channing Tatum-starring true story “Roofman” (Paramount) and poignant Brendan Fraser vehicle “Rental Family” (Searchlight). Their distributors know how to ride Oscar potential for extra press attention, but sustaining them through the season is another matter.

James Cameron's "Avatar" remains the biggest movie of all time. Even though it had to briefly surrender that title to "Avengers: Endgame," "Avatar" stands alone with $2.92 billion at the box office to its name. It also birthed a multi-billion-dollar franchise, with "Avatar: The Way of Water" becoming the third-biggest movie ever in 2022 with $2.34 billion. The third entry, "Avatar: Fire and Ash," hits theaters in December. It's a franchise that made Sam Worthington's career and, undoubtedly, made him a wealthy man. That wealth and fame could have easily gone to someone else.

In a recent breakdown of his career for Vanity Fair, Cameron explained that Worthington had some competition...

December is a time for taking stock of the year that was, catching up on all the movies and shows we might've missed the first time around, and making sure all our "Best of the Year" lists are fully in order. But it's also an underrated, eleventh-hour goldmine for new releases that tend to sneak up on most audiences. Anyone who's anyone knows about the major titles that remain on the horizon, like "Avatar: Fire & Ash" or the second season of "Fallout" on Prime Video. But those looking for their next binge need look no further than the biggest streamer around and the next project by one of the...

Paramount has scheduled Sonic Universe and hybrid live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tentpoles for 2028, and will re-release Top Gun for its 40th anniversary on May 13, 2026.

Untitled Sonic Universe Event Film will open on December 22 2028 and is being produced by Neil Moritz’s Original Film and Sega Sammy Group. Plot details remain under wraps.

The Sonic trilogy has grossed more than $1.2bn worldwide and the last instalment, Sonic The Hedgehog 3, opened in December 2024 and grossed $492m at the worldwide box office. A separate fourth Sonic instalment is scheduled for March 19 2027.

Moritz is a producer on Untitled Hybrid Live Action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

As cool as the space battles that "Star Wars" popularized are, there is something undeniably thrilling about a high-flying aerial battle sequence. Whether it's biplanes in the earliest days of aerial combat or modern fighter jets breaking the speed of sound while carrying out dangerous missions, these scenes are just breathtakingly cool. Though advances in CGI have made for exciting airplane battles on a larger scale, there is also something still timelessly effective when real planes are involved in filming. These sequences have been keeping audiences on the edge of their seat since the first-ever Best Picture winner at the Oscars, 1927's "Wings."

From aerial battles depicting real-life wartime events...

"Television has taken the place of the art film in a lot of ways," said James Gunn in a semi-recent episode of the Smartless podcast, to highlight the point he was making to his agents about why he considered quitting the film business entirely over 11 years ago. And he was not wrong. Of course, this happened way before he got hired and hit the jackpot with "Guardians of the Galaxy," but it's easy to see where he was coming from. From the mid-aughts to the early 2010s, the writer-director was primarily making niche stuff in comedy television as well as on the big screen. His quirky directorial feature debut, "Slither,...

New “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies will race to theaters in 2028.

Paramount has added an untitled “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” film to the calendar on Nov. 17, 2028, as well as an untitled “Sonic Universe Event Film” on Dec. 22, 2028. The studio also announced plans to bring “Top Gun” back to the big screen on May 13, 2026, in honor of its 40th anniversary.

Paramount is keeping the details for its “Tmnt” and “Sonic” films under wraps. All that’s confirmed is producer Neal H. Moritz, best known as the brains behind the successful “Sonic the Hedgehog” trilogy, is also behind the new “Ninja Turtles” adventure.

“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” will be a family friendly live-action/CG animation hybrid take on the turtle brothers known as Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. It will be the first live-action “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” since 2016’s theatrical disappointment “Out of the Shadows.” Paramount since...

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, currently in the United States to support the awards campaign and theatrical release for his “It Was Just an Accident,” has received a prison sentence in absentia.

As IndieWire learned from journalist Mansour Jahani, Panahi was sentenced to one year in prison and a two-year ban from leaving Iran, as well as a ban on membership in any political or social groups. IndieWire confirmed the news with a source close to Panahi.

Per Jahani, who sent a dispatch to journalists, “On Monday, December 1, 2025, attorney Mustafa Nili wrote on his social media X: Branch 26 of the Islamic Revolutionary Court of Tehran has sentenced Mr. Jafar Panahi in absentia to one year in prison and a two-year ban on leaving the country, as well as a ban on membership in political and social groups or factions, for propaganda activities against the regime. We will take the necessary legal steps to appeal this ruling.

It always looked like we were going to end 2025 on a high note at the box office thanks to some heavy-hitters arriving in theaters over the last handful of weeks of the year, but nobody could have predicted this. Disney's "Zootopia 2" just posted a record-smashing debut over the Thanksgiving holiday, obliterating expectations to deliver the biggest global opening ever for an animated movie.

Over the five-day, Wednesday to Sunday holiday stretch, "Zootopia 2" earned an absolutely mind-melting $559.5 million globally. That includes $158 million domestically, easily taking the crown away from "Wicked: For Good" after its $147 million opening. The "Wicked" sequel was still mighty, taking in another $93 million over the long weekend.

On December 4, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

Ahead, Jim Belushi tells IndieWire about the many qualities that set our Maverick Award winner, “The Chronology of Water” writer/director Kristen Stewart, apart from the crowd.

As told to Anne Thompson. The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.

I got a call from my agent. They said, “We want to send the script over. You have an offer to play Ken Kesey, and Kristen Stewart wrote it and directed it.”

“I don’t need to read it.

Mexico’s Tulip Pictures, formerly Barraca Prods., is opening offices in Austin, Texas and Spain as it seeks to tap their respective incentives and foster new co-productions.

Both places offer vibrant and infinite possibilities, said Lorena Villarreal, co-owner-founder of Tulip Pictures alongside her husband, Darian de la Fuente. Move comes as more Latin American companies are setting up shop in Madrid, including Chile’s Clara Films and Peru’s Tondero, among others.

Villarreal’s third directorial outing, “Life Is” (“La vida es”) is also bowing its official international teaser trailer with Variety. The dark comedy had its world premiere at Argentina’s Mar del Plata Film Festival, the only A-list festival in Latin America, where it was well received by critics and audiences alike.

“Experiencing the film with the audience in the festival was priceless,” said Villarreal who was deeply moved by the “great creative exchanges and level of appreciation for independent cinema in Argentina.

Daniel Woodrell, the author of popular books such as “Winter’s Bone,” “Tomato Red,” “Give Us a Kiss” and more, died on Friday, Nov. 28, from pancreatic cancer, his wife Katie Estill-Woodrell confirmed. He was 72.

Born in Springfield, Missouri, Woodrell dropped out of high school to join the Marines. He later attended the University of Kansas, where he earned a BA and an Mfa from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His writing often followed small-town criminals and detectives, coining the term “country noir” for his style.

He wrote his first book, “Under the Bright Lights,” the first in a trilogy following bayou cop Rene Shade who solves murders and mysteries throughout Louisiana. Woodrell wrote multiple books in the ’80s, such as “Woe to Live On” and “Muscle for the Wing.” His earlier works followed the lives of the residents of St. Bruno, a fictional town in the Louisiana bayou.

Woodrell’s breakthrough came...

The 10th anniversary edition of production event Focus, which takes place at Business Design Centre, London, on Dec. 8–9, includes case studies of “Frankenstein,” “Warfare” and “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.”

The session titled “Crafting Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Frankenstein’” features Tamara Deverell, production designer on “Frankenstein,” Kate Hawley, the film’s costume designer, and Mike Hill, who worked on creature design and character prosthetics make up FX.

The session “The Art of Collaboration: Blending Effects and Design for ‘Warfare'” sees Ryan Conder, a SFX supervisor at Cinesite, and Mark Digby, freelance production designer, talking to Simon Stanley-Clamp, a VFX supervisor at Cinesite, about “Warfare,” directed by Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza.

The session “A U.K. Location Filming Masterclass: From Westeros to ‘The Bone Temple’ to Dept. Q,” includes speakers Hugh Gourlay, supervising location manager at Dept. Q, Naomi Liston, supervising location manager on “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” and “Game of Thrones,...

When Michael Mann's "The Insider" was released in 1999, he was fresh off the impressive commercial success of "Heat," which had also cemented him as a solid directorial talent. "The Insider" is a fictionalized account of a true story — namely, Marie Brenner's 1997 Vanity Fair article that examines tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand's controversial segment on CBS' "60 Minutes." Working closely with screenwriter Eric Roth, Mann wove together an electrifying tale about an enraged industry insider who helps expose the darkest corners of corporate America.

While Al Pacino takes on the mantle of CBS producer Lowell Bergman, Wigand is played by Russell Crowe. Crowe's layered performance is the beating heart of "The Insider,...

On December 4, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

The first time most of us saw IndieWire Honors Maverick Award winner Kristen Stewart was in David Fincher’s 2002 thriller “Panic Room,” as the terrified 12-year-old whose mother (Jodie Foster) whisks her to safety as an intruder terrorizes their home.

We watched Stewart grow up onscreen, playing a diverse range of teenagers and young women, from the tough older sister in Jon Favreau’s space adventure “Zathura,” and hard rocker Joan Jett in “The Runaways,” to winsome Jean Seberg in “Seberg.

A backer of Eleanor the Great, about a woman who pretends to be a Holocaust survivor, dropped out after Johansson refused to make changes

Scarlett Johansson has said she was pressed to remove Holocaust references in her feature directing debut Eleanor the Great, which stars June Squibb as an elderly woman who pretends to be a Holocaust survivor.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Johansson said that during the film’s pre-production phase, one of the film’s backers threatened to pull out unless the plot elements relating to the Holocaust were cut out.

The 2nd Jaff Market wrapped on Monday (December 1) after three days of intense activities in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, reinforcing the event as an emerging hub for business and creative exchange between Indonesian and international industry partners.

“Everyone was excited about coming to Jogja,” said Jaff market director Linda Gozali. “People spent time and budget to come here to formalise business, making Jaff Market as a new hub.”

This year, the market drew 122 companies and hosted 144 market stands at Jogja Expo Center (Jec), which ran from November 29-December 1 alongside the 20th Jogja-Netpac Asian Film Festival (Jaff).

After a notable launch last year,...

The term "Bollywood," as most film students will be able to tell you, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (the former name of Mumbai), and "Hollywood." The term is used to describe the many, many films that come out of the Mumbai film industry, all presented in the Hindi language. Bollywood films are not to be confused with the many films produced in Telugu (like the recent hit "Rrr" featuring Ram Charan and Jr. Ntr), Tamil, Kannada, Bengali, or any of the many other languages spoken in India.

Bollywood films also tend to be characterized by a very particular flavor of gorgeously overwrought largesse. No matter the genre, Bollywood films are known for their melodrama,...

On today’s episode, Variety‘s Rebecca Rubin unpacks the Thanksgiving feast at the box office with “Zootopia 2” and “Wicked: For Good” lighting up screens around the world. And Marc Malkin sits down with Jeremy Allen White as the actor turns his attention back to filming “The Bear.”

More to come

Listen to Daily Variety on iHeartPodcasts, Apple Podcasts, Variety’s YouTube Podcast channel, Amazon Music, Spotify and other podcast platforms.

More from VarietyKorea Box Office: 'Zootopia 2' Commands Nearly 80% of Market on Debut'Zootopia 2' Roars to Record-Smashing $272 Million China Opening, Sixth-Biggest in History'Zootopia 2' Box Office: All the Records Set in Opening Weekend...

Ronald D. Moore's small screen reboot of Glen A. Larson's 1978 series "Battlestar Galactica" was far more successful than its forebear. The original "Battlestar Galactica" lasted for a single 24-episode season, but it wasn't renewed. It remained on the air thanks to reruns, however, and retained a certain amount of cultural cache throughout the 1990s. 

In the early 2000s, Moore, fresh off of gigs writing for ultra-successful "Star Trek" spin-off series, restarted "Battlestar Galactica" with an all-new cast and an all-new timeline. The new series began with a crackerjack three-hour miniseries and led into a complex, expansive show that audiences loved. The new "Battlestar Galactica" outstripped the 1978 series by a considerable margin,...

Buenos Aires, Argentina — One of the upbeat narratives at this year’s Ventana Sur market will kick in on Dec. 2 as animators, backed by Ibermedia Next, will talk about how they are using digital tools to free up and mix 2D and 3D, enhancing titles’ creativity.

Some of the results – catch Ana Ramírez González’s entrancing Instagram work in progress teaser for “Agua Dulce,” for instance – are now being made known. Further results will be shown to potential financiers at Ventana Sur from both Ibermedia 2.0 and 3.0.

On Tuesday, a panel will examine the impact of Ibermedia 2:0, speakers taking in Ibermedia’s Víctor Herreruela, Jara Ayucar at Spain’s Icaa film agency, José Luis Farias at La Liga de la Animación Iberoamericana and Guillermo Garma, at Argentina’s Incaa film-tv agency.

A second panel will consider how Ibermedia Next has impacted creators’ work. Panelists are Asdrúbal Hiutzilhuitl Rivera, at México’s Sísmica Studio,...

Following every dizzying spin of Chalamet’s table tennis hustler, Josh Safdie’s whip-crack comedy serves sensational shots – and a smart return by Gwyneth Paltrow

This new film from Josh Safdie has the fanatical energy of a 149-minute ping pong rally carried out by a single player running round and round the table. It’s a marathon sprint of gonzo calamities and uproar, a sociopath-screwball nightmare like something by Mel Brooks – only in place of gags, there are detonations of bad taste, cinephile allusions, alpha cameos, frantic deal-making, racism and antisemitism, sentimental yearning and erotic adventures. It’s a farcical race against time where no one needs to eat or sleep.

Built like a two-by-four with acne scars, freckles and a pencil mustache, Marty Mauser is simultaneously blessed and cursed with absurd quantities of unearned self-confidence. The movies have rarely given us such an entitled underdog, and it’s both mesmerizing and maddening to watch this arrogant table-tennis prodigy ricochet from high to low for nearly two and a half hours. In the defining performance of his still-burgeoning career, Timothée Chalamet — aka “Marty Supreme” — makes you want to believe in this instantly iconic character too … even if sometimes you also want to strangle him.

The year is 1952, and hardly anybody (apart from Marty) takes “ping-pong” seriously. Few would even call it a sport. But Marty is convinced that table tennis is his life’s calling, hustling for a chance to prove it over the course of 149 incredibly stressful, undeniably exhilarating minutes. Within that rip-roaring running time, director Josh Safdie volleys audiences...

Timothée Chalamet has never been as good as he is in "Marty Supreme," Josh Safdie's electrifying comedy-drama about a big pain in the ass with a big dream. Chalamet has steadily built up a memorable career in what feels like a short time, but with Marty Mauser, he has landed the part he was seemingly born to play. It's the type of performance you watch while thinking, "I can't imagine anyone else in this role." Marty is the kind of guy who you'd probably not want to be around for very long, seeing as his constant hustle and rude demeanour attract an endless stream of problems. And yet, Chalamet...

Like many great actors and virtually all legitimate movie stars, Timothée Chalamet is a salesman at heart. But where most of them prefer to keep that like something of an open secret, the razor-cheeked Lisan al-Gaib — who’s become a brand unto himself, despite showing up at a time when Hollywood remains far more invested in franchises than faces — has embraced his entrepreneurial zeal with the same winning commitment that he brings to literally everything else he does.

It’s baked into the most basic essence of his image. Chalamet doesn’t co-own a mobile phone company or do an inordinate amount of commercial work (his ads are limited to Super Bowl spots and Scorsese collaborations), but whether accepting an award or simply delivering a turn worthy of one, he never shies away from the sense that he’s selling himself on screen. In that light, it’s no coincidence...

Out-of-home media and Irl marketing company Outfront Media has tapped Epic Games marketing exec Stacy Minero as its new chief marketing and experience officer and brought on Abhi Vyas as vice president of performance marketing.

Run by CEO Nick Brien, Outfront aims to lead a new era of in-real-life marketing as the live events and experiences industry revs up.

The company’s recent partnerships include working with Google DeepMind on the “Imagine If…” campaign, which turned New York City subway stations into an AI-powered art gallery, and teaming with Steph Curry to promote his book “Shot Ready” with a billboard in Los Angeles aligned to the moon’s path.

In 2026, Outfront will be launching projects tied to the Super Bowl and the World Cup.

Minero comes over to Outfront from Epic Games, where she was head of marketing for Epic Games’ creator marketplaces. At Epic, Minero helped shape global marketing...

An enduring Christmas classic that received Steven Spielberg's seal of approval, "It's a Wonderful Life" is one of the most wholesome movies from the 1940s. For the uninitiated, the 1946 film has small-town everyman George Bailey (James Stewart) give up his personal dreams to help his family and community. Despondent over the direction his life has taken, Bailey contemplates suicide, only for his guardian angel, Clarence (Henry Travers), to intervene. After being given a tour of what the world would be like without him, Bailey gains a newfound appreciation of his life.

For those looking to keep the classic Hollywood vibes going, there are plenty of similar movies to "It's a Wonderful Life.

Rank Film (origin) Distributor Nov 28-30 Total Week 1 Wicked: For Good(US) Universal £7.7m £32.1m 2 2 Zootropolis 2(US) Disney £6m £6m 1 3 Now You See Me: Now You Don’t(US) Lionsgate £605,504 £5.5m 3 4 Westlife: Royal Albert Hall(UK) Cinema Live £527,713 £527,713 1 5 The Running Man (UK-us) Paramount £267,000 £4.4m 3

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.32

Universal’s Wicked: For Good continued its reign at the UK-Ireland box office in its second weekend on release, bringing in £7.7m, while Disney’s Zootropolis 2 took the number two spotwith a £6m debut.

Wicked: For Good’s £7.7m was a 57% drop on its opening weekend. Jon M Chu...

Northern Ireland-set sitcom "Derry Girls" is beloved at home and abroad. By the time its third and final season came around in 2022, it even scored a cameo from a genuine Irish acting icon: Liam Neeson, who plays Inspector Byers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Ruc).

Like most "Derry Girls" episodes, the season 3 premiere "The Night Before" packs a lot into 20ish minutes. The girls break into their school to get an early peek at some exam results, and are duped into helping two burglars posing as janitors. The Derry Girls are left holding the bag when the Ruc arrive, so they're arrested and faced with questioning from Byers.

On one hand,...

It's genuinely hard to imagine Mariska Hargitay as anyone but Olivia Benson after multiple decades of her starring on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," and with the utmost due respect to Hargitay, it's hard to imagine her being funny. However, according to an interview that Hargitay did with Amy Poehler, she originally started out trying to be a comedian until her life unexpectedly pivoted her into the super-dark sex crimes TV show.

In an episode of Poehler's deeply charming podcast "Good Hang," Hargitay told Poehler that she actually auditioned for one of the most popular network comedies in TV history. "I did a lot of [comedy auditions]," Hargitay — the daughter of...

On December 4, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

Honoring Mona Fastvold, our Visionary Award winner and her “The Testament of Ann Lee” director, actress Amanda Seyfried reflects on her collaboration with the gentle but unwavering “Mother Mona.”

Mona Fastvold and I first met years ago through mutual friends. I thought she seemed so worldly and confident. I had no idea she was a director, I was just struck by her warmth and openness. We finally got to work together in 2022 which laid a great foundation for the wild,...

The actor met the future president while making Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and says he is ‘not scared’ of him

Actor Josh Brolin says President Trump was a “different guy” when he first met him in 2009, and that “there is no greater genius than [Trump] in marketing”.

Brolin was speaking to the Independent to promote his new film Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and said that while his clergyman character was not based on the president, there was a similarity in that once he “garners a sense of power, then there are no boundaries”.

On December 4, the IndieWire Honors Winter 2025 ceremony will celebrate the creators and stars responsible for crafting some of the year’s best films. Curated and selected by IndieWire’s editorial team, IndieWire Honors is a celebration of the filmmakers, artisans, and performers behind films well worth toasting. In the days leading up to the Los Angeles event, IndieWire is showcasing their work with new interviews and tributes from their peers.

Mona Fastvold has always been drawn to stories about women who lived their lives in the future. Women who dared to imagine how bitter pasts might give way to brighter tomorrows, and did what they could to bring those changes into being. Women — immigrants and settlers — who embodied the utopian potential of a country that has always struggled to live by its own principles, and refused to accept that they were ahead of their time. To watch her extraordinary third...

Women directors were behind under a quarter of all films made in France in 2024, according to the Cnc’s annual gender equality report.

Just 24.2% of films were directed by women in 2024, the lowest percentage since 2019. The total number of films directed or co-directed by women was 26.8%, on par with last year’s 27.1%, but down from a historic high of 33.2% in 2022.

Some 25.6% of fiction features were made by women in 2024, down slightly from 26.7% in 2023. Female filmmakers have been making headway in the documentary category, accounting for 35.7% of films compared to 33.3% last year and 30% the year before, though down from 45.8% in 2022.

Just...

Women directors accounted for under a quarter of all films made in France in 2024, according to the Cnc’s annual gender equality report.

Just 24.2% of films were directed by women in 2024, the lowest percentage since 2019. The total number of films directed or co-directed by women was 26.8%, on par with last year’s 27.1%, but down from a historic high of 33.2% in 2022.

Some 25.6% of fiction features were made by women in 2024, down slightly from 26.7% in 2023. Female filmmakers have been making headway in the documentary category, accounting for 35.7% of films compared to 33.3% last year and 30% the year before, though down from 45.8% in 2022.

Just...

Avatar director, known for his advocacy of new technology, told interviewer generative AI performance puts ‘all human experience into a blender’

Avatar director James Cameron has called AI actors “horrifying” and said what generative AI technology creates is “an average”.

Cameron was speaking to CBS on Sunday Morning in the run-up to the release of the third Avatar film, subtitled Fire and Ash, and was asked about the pioneering technology he used in his film-making. After praising motion-capture performance as “a celebration of the actor-director moment”, Cameron expressed his disdain for artificial intelligence. “Go to the other end of the spectrum [from motion capture] and you’ve got generative AI, where they can make up a character.

Buenos Aires, Argentina — Back to Buenos Aires after a 2024 edition in Uruguay, Ventana Sur Rio de la Plata 2025 looks set to command the biggest industry attendance of any film-tv market in Latin America, with accreditations standing at a bullish 2,400 and counting on Thursday. The final delegate head count could be near to 3,000.

“At this stage, registrations are excellent, slightly ahead of last year, which is a very positive sign with several hundred accredited participants coming from across Latin America and key international markets players and decision makers. Ventana Sur is definitely a central meeting point for business and project circulation in Latin America,” says the Cannes Marché du Film’s Guillaume Esmiol, Ventana Sur co-director.

“The decision to alternate between Uruguay and Argentina has generated renewed interest and widened the market’s influence across the Río de la Plata region,” he adds.

Delegates will find a new venue: central Buenos Aires’ Palacio Libertad,...

For Duncan Montgomery and Alex Orlovsky, this year’s Gotham Awards highlight the success of a push they made to turn their company High Frequency from the producer of a handful of arthouse titles into a full-blown film financier. It’s a shift that began in 2021, and one that has paid off this year with “Lurker” and “Sorry, Baby,” two films that the company backed and that will compete for best feature.

“They’re very different movies, but they both have distinct points of view,” says Orlovsky. “Nothing can be middle of the road right now.”

Indeed, “Lurker,” a psychological thriller about an obsessed fan who worms his way into a musician’s inner circle, and “Sorry, Baby,” a darkly comic drama about a woman recovering from a sexual assault, were both provocative and utterly unique. Those qualities made them among a handful of films to land distribution deals at...

Mexican drama-thriller “On the Road” (En el Camino) has been acquired by Madman Entertainment for distribution in Australia and New Zealand, Peccadillo Pictures for U.K. and Ireland, and Edko Films in Hong Kong and Macau. The film, directed by David Pablos, premiered at Venice, where it won both the Horizons Award for best film and the Queer Lion for best movie in the festival with a LGBT theme.

M-Appeal is handling international sales, and will attend Ventana Sur, where it expects to close additional deals.

“On the Road” was previously acquired by Strand Releasing (North America), Filmware (Taiwan), I Wonder Pictures (Italy), Festival Films (Spain), Salzgeber, and will see distribution across Latin America with Cinépolis. Several of these distributors – including Filmware, Festival Films and Salzgeber – are preparing theatrical releases.

“On the Road,” which stars Victor Miguel Prieto and Osvaldo Sánchez, weaves a delicate love story into the structure of a thriller,...

Scarlett Johansson has defended her ongoing support for Woody Allen, who has been disavowed by much of the film industry over sexual abuse allegations made by his stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow.

The actress — who has starred in three movies directed by Allen in “Match Point,” “Scoop” and “Vicky Christina Barcelona” — is one of few names to have publicly stood by the filmmaker over the claims, first made in 1992 and brought up again in the wake of the #MeToo movement, claims that Allen has consistently denied and have been investigated and dismissed by New York authorities.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter in 2019, Johansson said: “I love Woody. I believe him, and I would work him anytime.”

In a new interview in The Daily Telegraph, the Marvel star addressed any potential backlash to her support, saying it was “hard to know” whether she had experienced any fallout in both her professional or personal life.

Back in 2021, Torrey DeVitto left "Chicago Med" alongside fellow star Yaya DaCosta, who played April Sexton on the medical drama. In DaCosta's case, the promise of another show prompted her exit, and a similar thing happened for DeVitto, whose contract had expired by the end of season 6, allowing her to move on to other work. However, the actor would be back a couple more times following her initial exit from the series.

Aside from the swiftly-cancelled "Chicago Justice," the One Chicago universe has been a big hit for NBC, spawning multiple successful shows that have run for a combined total of 39 seasons and 749 episodes. The longest-running is, of course, "Chicago Fire...