NEW YORK (AP) Netflix has struck a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, the legacy Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and “Friends,” to buy its studio and streaming business for $72 billion. The acquisition would bring two of the industry’s biggest players in film and TV under one roof and alter the entertainment industry landscape. Beyond its namesake television Read More 

LOS ANGELES This week’s Road To Oscar installment offers a pair of perspectives–those of cinematographer Barry Ackroyd, BSC and editor Kirk Baxter–on the Kathryn Bigelow-directed A House of Dynamite (Netflix), a film which is also centered on multiple perspectives. The latter POVs–each unfolding in a 20-minute-or-so segment covering the same nuclear crisis–come, respectively, from intelligence officials in Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) If there were any doubt, the first few days of Hollywood’s year-end awards have already made it abundantly clear: Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” is the Oscar front-runner. On Monday, “One Battle After Another” won best film at the 35th Gotham Awards. On Tuesday, it was named best film by the New York Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” was crowned best feature film and the dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi won three awards Monday at the 35th annual Gotham Awards, a starry kickoff to the film industry’s awards season. The Gothams, presented by the Gotham Film & Media Institute, aren’t considered an Oscar bellwether. But the Read More 

LOS ANGELES The 2026 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations were unveiled this morning (12/3) with Peter Hujar’s Day topping the tally, earning five nominations. Eight films tied with four nominations apiece: Blue Sun Palace, Lucky Lu, Lurker, One of Them Days, The Plague, Train Dreams, Twinless and Sorry, Baby. Peter Hujar’s Day, The Plague, Train Dreams, Twinless Read More 

NEW YORK The National Board of Review (NBR) has unveiled its 2025 honorees, with top awards including One Battle After Another for Best Film; Paul Thomas Anderson for Best Director for One Battle After Another; Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor for One Battle After Another; and Rose Byrne for Best Actress for If I Had Legs I’d Read More 

NEW YORK The New York Film Critics Circle has named writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another as the best film of 2025. One Battle After Another also topped the best supporting actor category with Benicio del Toro winning that honor. Best director was Jafar Panahi for It Was Just an Accident. Best actor and actress Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) George Clooney is not Jay Kelly. That much he is sure of. But when a famous movie star of a certain age decides to take on a role as a famous movie star of a certain age, full of regrets and realizing that he’s missed out on so much of his own life in pursuit Read More 

LOS ANGELES The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the AFI Awards 2025 honorees. The recipients include 10 outstanding motion pictures and 10 outstanding television programs deemed culturally and artistically representative of this year’s most significant achievements in the art of the moving image. THE AFI MOTION PICTURES OF THE YEAR  AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH BUGONIA FRANKENSTEIN Read More 

LOS ANGELES The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) will hold its 40th Annual Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography Gala on March 8, 2026, honoring a distinguished slate of recipients. Robert Yeoman, ASC will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his enduring impact and visionary contributions. M. David Mullen, ASC will be honored with the Career Achievement Read More 

CAIRO (AP) Iran has sentenced acclaimed director Jafar Panahi to a year in prison in absentia, even as he received new awards for his latest movie. The Tehran court also imposed a two-year ban on Panahi leaving Iran after convicting him on charges of “propaganda activities against the system,” his lawyer Mostafa Nili said in a post Read More 

LOS ANGELES IndependentMedia has added cinematographer and director Phedon Papamichael to its directorial roster for commercials and branded content. Papamichael’s cinematography has garnered two Academy Award nominations (for Nebraska in 2014 and The Trial of the Chicago Seven in 2021) as well as a pair of BAFTA Film Award nods (for Ford v Ferrari on 2020, and Read More 

LONDON Lucie Bourdeu has joined the directing roster of Biscuit Filmworks for representation globally except for France and Belgium where she is handled by Paris-based production company Hiersoir. With a style that blends cinematic craft and visual comedy, Bourdeu’s films reflect a distinctive aesthetic rooted in her love of genre cinema. Earlier this year, Bourdeu received Read More 

NEW YORK Kelly Mikhael has joined the New York office of Zulu Alpha Kilo (Z.A.K.) as executive producer. She comes over from Johannes Leonardo where she served as EP, steering campaigns across brands like Uber, adidas, Volkswagen and more. As Z.A.K. NY’s first exec producer, Mikhael will oversee a growing production team as the creative company elevates Read More 

VENICE, Calif. Farm League has added director Benjamin Sonntag to its roster for U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content. Sonntag’s credits range from tales of triumph against the odds (Nike) to snapshots of the quiet moments that define us (23andMe), to visceral portraits of rhythm (Jo-Jax, New Orleans Jazz). The director’s work captures the paradoxes of Read More 

LOS ANGELES ProdCo has added London-born filmmaker and photographer Frank Lebon to its roster for global commercial film representation. This marks Lebon’s first production company signing in the advertising world. A cult figure within the art scene, Lebon is celebrated for his immersive, author-led films that often fuse graphic design, photography and animation, realized through intimate camera Read More 

LOS ANGELES Hummingbird has added director Scott Pickett to its roster. Over the course of more than 100 commercial campaigns, Pickett has worked with brands including Apple, Google, IKEA, Toyota, Ford, Nestlé, McDonald’s, and Volkswagen. His work has been recognized with industry honors, including a Gold Clio and a Bronze Lion at Cannes. Prior to joining Hummingbird, Read More 

LONDON The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has launched LIONS Sport, a global forum dedicated to the cultural and commercial power of creativity in sport. Taking place June 24-25, 2026 during Cannes Lions, the two-day program will unite leaders from across brands, agencies, rights holders and media to explore how innovation and creativity in marketing Read More 

CHICAGO The Camp Kuleshov trailer competition for emerging creative artists in postproduction–a.k.a. Camp K–has revealed the winners of its Grand Prizes in the categories of Editing, Graphics, Sound Design and Music Score. Lev winners are selected from among the first prize winners in each category from each region. The Lev honor is named for Lev Kuleshov, Read More 

LOS ANGELES The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) will honor production designer and director Bo Welch, set designer/art director Jann Engel, illustrator, storyboard artist and production designer Tom Southwell, and scenic artist Stephen McNally with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 30th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards on February 28, 2026, at the InterContinental Los Read More 

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) After two installments of his “Knives Out” franchise skewered old and new money, director and writer Rian Johnson targets religion in his third, a gloomy and clunky outing that may test fans’ faith in the filmmaker. “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” gets a new starry cast to orbit Daniel Craig’s foppish detective Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Michelle Pfeiffer plays a mom on the edge at Christmas time in the new movie “Oh. What. Fun.” If the sarcastic punctuation wasn’t enough of a tip off, Pfeiffer’s character Claire is not having the best time. Claire’s grown kids (Felicity Jones, Chloë Grace Moretz, Dominic Sessa ) don’t appreciate her efforts. Her husband (Denis Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) How do you top “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” the video game movie adaptation about murderous anthropomorphic robots? If it’s a battle for insipid nonsense, the answer is blindingly clear: “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2.” The sequel builds on the un-scary, un-funny bones of the 2023 original by expanding the Freddy’s Cinematic Universe with an even Read More 

LONDON (AP) British playwright Tom Stoppard, a playful, probing dramatist who won an Academy Award for the screenplay for 1998’s “Shakespeare In Love,” has died. He was 88. In a statement Saturday, United Agents said Stoppard died “peacefully” at his home in Dorset in southern England, surrounded by his family. “He will be remembered for his works, Read More 

HYDERABAD, India (AP) A fast-rising parallel film industry in India is competing with Bollywood’s musicals and action-packed films and has taken the world by storm: It’s called Tollywood. As Mumbai is to Hindi films — or Bollywood — the southern Indian city of Hyderabad is to movies made in Telugu, one of the country’s most widely spoken languages. Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) “Zootopia 2” had a roaring, record-setting opening at the box office. The animal city sequel from the Walt Disney Company brought in $96 million in North America over the weekend, earned $156 million over the five-day Thanksgiving frame, and scored a staggering $556 million globally since its Wednesday opening, according to studio estimates Sunday. That Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Whether you prefer something naughty, like the animated movie “Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer” or nice, like classics “The Sound of Music” and “Home Alone,” streamers, cable and broadcast networks offer up festive choices in December. Highlights this year include music specials with Derek Hough and Jimmy Fallon, the Rockefeller Tree lighting hosted Read More 

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