LOS ANGELES The awards season norm has seen the nearly annual occurrence of at least one difference between the lineups of Best Director Oscar and the DGA Award nominees. In only five of the 78 years of the DGA Awards have the Guild nominations exactly mirrored their Academy Award counterparts. This time around Guillermo del Toro and Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic “Sinners” led all films with 16 nominations to the 98th Academy Awards on Thursday, setting a record for the most in Oscar history. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters showered “Sinners” with more nominations than they had ever bestowed before, breaking the 14-nomination mark set by “All About Read More 

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK (AP) Director Ryan Coogler spoke about writing his blues-infused vampire film “Sinners,” nominated for a record 16 Oscars, for his late uncle, whom he imagined celebrating the occasion with some blues music. Rose Byrne, who learned of her best actress nomination in the middle of the night in Australia, talked about the intensive work of fine-tuning Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) After such a strong year for movies, the brutal limitations of Oscar nominations were bound to have some big omissions. But there were several genuine shockers Thursday morning, including widely expected nominees like Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal missing out on nods in their respective acting categories. In some cases, that meant room for long Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Robert Redford liked to say that everybody has a story. He’s not the only person who said it, but he is one of the few who did something to celebrate it, his daughter, Amy Redford, said Wednesday evening ahead of the Sundance Film Festival’s opening day. Thanks to her father’s vision, the Sundance Institute he Read More 

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) Chris Pine gets a lot of scripts sent his way, but when Rachel Lambert’s “Carousel” landed on his proverbial desk it was like he’d stumbled on something from a different filmmaking era. In Lambert’s lyrical prose was a story that, to him, felt very Robert Redford, very “Ordinary People.” “My favorite word for this film Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) Skydance-owned Paramount is again extending the tender offer window in its $77.9 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, while doubling down on a coming proxy fight. Warner stockholders now have until Feb. 20 to sell their shares to Paramount for $30 apiece in cash — a price that remains unchanged, giving the offer Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Netflix is now offering to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business in all cash — in an effort to win over the Hollywood giant’s shareholders for its $72 billion merger and potentially thwart a hostile bid from Skydance-owned Paramount. Back in December, Netflix struck a cash and stock deal with Warner valued at Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) Ruth E. Carter has made history once more. With her Oscar nomination for “Sinners,” Carter has become the most-nominated Black woman in Academy Awards history across any category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed Thursday. The trailblazing costume designer was recognized for her work on Ryan Coogler’s blues-steeped vampire epic, set in Read More 

BERLIN Sentimental Value was the big winner at the 38th European Film Awards on Saturday evening (1/17) in Berlin. The feature took home six awards from the European Film Academy–best European film, best director for Joachim Trier, best screenwriter for Trier and Eskil Vogt, best actress for Renate Reinsve, best actor for Stellan Skarsgard, and best Read More 

LOS ANGELES American Cinema Editors (ACE) has named two-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Ang Lee as recipient of the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year award. He will be presented with the honor at the 76th Annual ACE Eddie Awards taking place Friday, February 27, at UCLA’s Royce Hall, where winners will also be announced in 14 competitive Read More 

LOS ANGELES The Cinema Audio Society has unveiled its nominees in seven categories for the 62nd Annual CAS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing, honoring work released in 2025. Among the feature films in the running are F1: The Movie, Frankenstein, One Battle After Another and Sinners. One-hour TV series nominees are Andor, Pluribus, Severance, Stranger Read More 

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) Brazilians celebrated the nomination of “The Secret Agent” film to four Oscar categories on Thursday, which many said confirmed the rise of Brazilian cinema and its universal appeal. “The Secret Agent” — nominated for best picture, best actor, best international film and achievement in casting — now shares Brazil’s record for nominations, alongside the famed Read More 

LOS ANGELES Creative studio Imaginary Forces (IF) has appointed Denny Tu as its first-ever CEO. Formerly global chief marketing officer at IMAX, Tu is a veteran marketing executive known for transforming disruptor brands. “Imaginary Forces has always sat at the intersection of craft and imagination,” remarked IF co-founder and executive creative director Peter Frankfurt. “As IF approaches Read More 

LONDON Object & Animal has signed French-Canadian director and photographer Alex Acy for his first commercial representation in the U.S. and U.K.  Object & Animal will handle him for spots, branded content and music videos. Acy’s growing body of work across music, narrative and commercial projects has quickly attracted international attention, culminating in a nomination for Read More 

TORONTO & LOS ANGELES Production company Fela has added photographer and director William Ukoh to its diverse roster of talent for commercial motion and stills representation in the U.S. and Canada. This marks his first U.S. representation in commercials. He had previous been repped in Canada via Rodeo Productions. Ukoh’s work is deeply influenced by his Nigerian background, expressed Read More 

NEW YORK Gravy Films has added director Victoria Rivera to its roster. A Colombian filmmaker based in New York City, Rivera directs in both English and Spanish. Her emotionally resonant work has earned multiple Vimeo Staff Picks and premieres at top-tier film festivals. Her commercial work includes the AICP-nominated “Los Viejitos” for McDonald’s and the powerful Gold Read More 

PORTLAND, Maine Matt O’Rourke has joined advertising and marketing agency VIA, based in Portland, Maine, as chief creative officer. He will report to CEO Leeann Leahy and work with brands including Arm & Hammer, Klondike and Golden Corral. “Matt is exactly the kind of creative leader this moment demands,” said Leahy. “He represents a new generation of Read More 

NEW YORK Greg Hahn, co-founder and chief creative officer at Mischief in Brooklyn, has been named jury president for the inaugural One Show Indies, the global competition dedicated to celebrating the work of independent agencies, design firms, freelancers, creators, and other creative companies around the world. Debuting this year within The One Show 2026, The One Show Read More 

MILWAUKEE, WI Chad Verly has joined Milwaukee-based independent agency Hanson Dodge as group creative director, a new role at the shop. He was most recently a creative director at Cramer-Krasselt in Chicago and Milwaukee. In his new role, Verly will report to chief creative officer Mike Roe and help oversee the agency’s expanded workflow which includes recent Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years. The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the new TikTok U.S. joint venture. The new Read More 

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) Towering high above Taiwan’s capital city at 1,667 feet (508 meters), Taipei 101 dominates the skyline. The earthquake-proof skyscraper of steel and glass has captured the imagination of professional rock climber Alex Honnold for more than a decade. On Saturday morning, he will climb it in his signature free solo style — without ropes or Read More 

NEW YORK (AP) It’s not often we get to pay tribute, in full, to our giants while they’re still with us. But in “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!” Judd Apatow dutifully and affectionately celebrates the laugh-filled life of a comedy legend who’s still here to tell the story — and the jokes — himself. “The 99 Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) It’s a bold filmmaking choice to have a countdown clock on the screen for most of your movie. In the best-case scenario for a movie like “Mercy,” in which a Los Angeles detective has prove his innocence to an artificial intelligence judge within said time limit, it heightens the tension. Who hasn’t gotten sweaty palms Read More 

LOS ANGELES Following the success of their 2024 Sundance breakout hit Thelma starring Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Nebraska), producers Zoë Worth and Chris Kaye have launched Bandwagon, an independent production company and creative incubator of original film and television projects with a special focus on comedy. The venture is backed by a core group of private Read More 

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) When you think IMAX, chances are your mind goes to those immersive documentaries that take you inside volcanoes, deep under oceans, atop mountains or to distant planets. Or to those widescreen films that bathe you in backstage experiences with iconic rockstars or Hollywood special effects. But, this year, the state of Ohio is using the Read More 

LOS ANGELES (AP) “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” may have scored well with critics, but slightly more moviegoing audiences chose to spend the holiday weekend catching up with “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” James Cameron’s epic topped the North American box office charts for the fifth straight weekend with $13.3 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Read More 

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