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Exclusive: Lee Daniels is staying at 20th Television with a multi-year first-look deal. Under the pact, Daniels will develop and executive produce comedy, drama and limited series for linear networks and streamers through his Lee Daniels Entertainment banner, with an emphasis on platforms across Disney Entertainment Television.

Daniels has been at 20th Television since 2015. He co-created/executive produced the studio’s Fox drama series Empire and Star and executive produced another drama series for Fox, Our King of People, as well as ABC’s Wonder Year reboot.

“Daniels’ storied history with our studio spans over a decade, where he created culture-defining series and characters that helped redefine an era of television,” 20th Television President Karey Burke said. “He’s an incredibly unique and talented visionary, and we are truly looking forward to our next chapter of collaboration with him.”

Daniels is coming off three back-to-back overall deals with 20th TV,...

Whatever you think of Jonathan Majors, it's impossible to ignore his searing talent, from The Last Black Man in San Francisco and Lovecraft County to his upcoming film, Magazine Dreams, which features Majors as you've never seen him before. While the film debuted out of Sundance two years ago to rave reviews (and won the US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Creative Vision award), it is only now getting theatrical distribution, likely due to the events which led to Majors' being controversially dropped from the MCU, ultimately changing its trajectory in the process. Out March 21 from Briarcliff Entertainment, Magazine Dreams has Majors giving perhaps his most intense performance to date. Check out a clip from the film above.

Magazine Dreams is an intense character study centered on the world of bodybuilding. In a role that defies physical and emotional boundaries, Majors plays an amateur bodybuilder who struggles to find human...

Pictures: Netflix

For data nerds – it’s our favorite time of the year – the second half of 2024 viewing data has just been released! We’ve got a lot more to come, but what are the most-watched movies and series of the second half of the year? Let’s dive straight in.

What are the key points that Netflix has cited as being the most important for this data drop? Netflix reiterated that Engagement (time spent watching) is the best metric to gauge member satisfaction and that this data drop covers ~99% of all video watch time on Netflix and that no single title accounts for more than 1% of total Netflix viewing.

Squid Game S2 had the most hours viewed (0.7% of total viewing), and their total watch time for this period of July to December 2024 was 94B hours (5% increase YoY). Their most-viewed series was Squid Game S2 (87M views) despite premiering only 6 days before year-end.

Before the NAACP Image Awards’ main, televised ceremony kicks off Saturday night, some of this year’s winners were announced in a non-televised Creative Honors event on Friday night.

Nickel Boys, a six-time nominee, took home two awards, with director RaMell Ross winning for best directing in a motion picture and Ross and co-writer Joslyn Barnes winning best writing in a motion picture for their Oscar-nominated adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel.

Another double winner was Jennifer Hudson, who saw her eponymous daytime talk show win best talk series as she won best host in a talk series.

Other notable winners included Sing Sing (best independent motion picture), Denzel Washington (best supporting actor in a motion picture for his work in Gladiator II), Inside Out 2 (best animated movie), Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist (best limited series), Abbott Elementary (best comedy series), Cross (best drama series), the Luther Vandross...

Exclusive: Justin Chon (Blue Bayou) is in talks to direct Capsule, a new sci-fi film for 20th Century Studios.

The film’s current draft is by Elijah Bynum of Magazine Dreams fame and follows a young tech entrepreneur whose life is turned upside down when he mysteriously begins to receive metallic capsules containing messages from his future self.

Hutch Parker and Dan Wilson will produce for Hutch Parker Entertainment, alongside John Zaozirny, after bringing the original spec by Ian Shorr in to 20th Century Fox in 2013.

Actor-filmmaker Chon broke out behind the camera with a pair of acclaimed Sundance indies — the dramas Gook (2017) and Ms. Purple (2019), which were released by Samuel Goldwyn Films and Oscilloscope, respectively. The former is a black-and-white drama following two Korean American brothers amid the 1992 Los Angeles riots; the latter is a poignant film about a Korean American sibling relationship.

Making his feature directorial debut with the 2015 comedy Man Up,...

Quick LinksGinny and Emily's Relationship in Back in Action, ExplainedGinny Is an Ace That Helps Save the Day

The following contains spoilers for Back in Action, now streaming on Netflix.

A major draw of Netflix's Back in Action is Cameron Diaz's return to movies. She retired but came back after a decade out of the game. In this action comedy, Diaz plays Emily, a former CIA spy who wants to protect her family and retrieve a dangerous weapon from terrorists.

Emily partners with her husband, Jamie Foxx's Matt, who is desperate to retain a normal life and hide away from the rest of the world. However, as intriguing as it is to see the duo "back in action," the more interesting spy is played by a veteran actor, Glenn Close, who steals the show as Emily's mother, Ginny.

Ginny and Emily's Relationship in Back in Action, Explained Ginny...

In the wake of Den Of Thieves: Pantera grossing close to $50M around the globe, Lionsgate, Tucker Tooley Entertainment and Gerard Butler’s G-Base are putting Den of Thieves 3 into active development.

Butler is eyeing a return along with O’Shea Jackson. Lionsgate is currently in talks with writer-director Christian Gudegast. G-base banner partner Alan Siegel is producing. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is expected to board the new movie as an EP.

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera opened to No. 1 at the domestic box office to $15M and has grossed more than $32M stateside. The film launched on PVOD on Tuesday after an 18-day window. Worldwide the Den of Thieves franchise has grossed north of $126.5M.

Tucker Tooley Entertainment, produced and co-financed the first film and brought the franchise to Lionsgate from STX. Tooley will co-produce and jointly finance Den of Thieves 3 under his label and Lionsgate will, natch,...

Lionsgate, Tucker Tooley Entertainment and G-base are moving a third film in the “Den of Thieves” franchise into active development.

“Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” opened in the No. 1 spot at the North American box office and has grossed more than $32 million at the domestic box office to date. The film launched on PVOD on Tuesday.

It is expected that Gerard Butler will return to star and produce through his G-base banner, alongside partner Alan Siegel, and Lionsgate is in talks with franchise writer-director Christian Gudegast to return to write and direct. It is also expected that O’Shea Jackson Jr. will co-star in the third installment.

Earlier this month, Jackson Jr. told Variety he was hoping for more “Den of Thieves” in the near future. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I’m trying to Vin Diesel this thing. To quote Ryan Reynolds, I want to work with Gerard until he’s 90,” he said.

Here's the full list of the nominees for Outstanding Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists.  Winners will be announced on February 15 at a ceremony taking place at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. Feature-length Motion Picture: 1. Best Contemporary Make-Up The Deliverance (Netflix) Beverly Jo Pryor, Eric Pagdin, Chloe Sens, Doug Fairall

The post The Makeup and Hairstyling Guild Reveals Nominees appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

Behind every great man, as the old, outdated expression goes, there’s a great woman — and there’s a pretty decent chance she’s been played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor.

The 55-year-old actress has built a long, inspiring career out of portraying characters who linger just off center stage: the long-suffering wife of Cuba Gooding Jr.’s Navy Seal in 2000’s Men of Honor; Ray Charles’ mistress in Jamie Foxx’s 2004 biopic Ray; Yusef Salaam’s mother in 2019’s When They See Us (her first Emmy nomination); and Venus and Serena Williams’ mom in the 2021 Will Smith film about their dad, King Richard (her first Oscar nom).

“If we only know the figurehead and we don’t know the women who were doing the groundwork, it’s not the full truth,” she tells THR. “We’d be telling a half story.”

She fills in the other half once again in the just-released Nickel Boys,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced on Monday the 207 feature films eligible for Best Picture consideration, two days before voting for the 2025 Oscar nominations begins.

There are 323 feature films eligible for the Academy Awards, but just 207 met the Best Picture competition eligibility requirements.

As stated by the Academy in a press release, “To be eligible for consideration in the general entry categories, under rules implemented for the 97th Academy Awards year, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in at least one of six U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County; the City of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024, and complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue. Feature films must have a running time of more than 40 minutes.”

But Best Picture eligibility is different. Films under consideration...

There are 323 feature films eligible for the upcoming Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday, though a whopping 36% of those – 116 feature films – are not eligible for consideration in the Best Picture category.

The discrepancy between films that have qualified for the top category and films that are eligible in other categories comes either because the filmmakers did not attempt to qualify – likely the case for several documentary, animated or international films. Or because of new eligibility rules that require Best Picture candidates to meet additional benchmarks for diversity and inclusion. This is the second year that Representation and Inclusion Standards (Raise) have been enforced, though they did not appear to disqualify any serious contenders in the category.

Among titles excluded from Best Picture consideration are Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut “Woman of the Year,” Michael Keaton’s directorial debut “Knox Goes Away,...

Eight-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close’s resume apparently stretches far beyond the Hollywood Hills. Before Close presented the Golden Globes award for Best Picture within the drama category, the awards ceremony’s host Nikki Glaser introduced Close as “former drummer for System of a Down.” System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian jokingly confirmed the revelation in a social media post Sunday.

“Bet you didn’t know!!!!,” Malakian said in an Instagram post. “Bet you didn’t know!!!!! Somewhere between our first drummer and John, Glenn Close was tearing shit...

Over the holidays here at JoBlo, we’ve been posting plenty of lists. We went into the Best Movies of 2024, the Best TV Shows, and the Most Under/Overrated Movies of the year. We also dipped into the Worst Horror Movies of the year, and our own Jesse Shade is hard at work on his annual Awfully Good take on the Worst Movies of the Year. But, while we’re waiting, we thought that as last week we polled our readers on the Best Movie of the Year that you also be given the chance to choose the worst.

If you take a look at the poll below, there are loads and loads of movies listed. These range from terrible streaming movies you might have forgotten to theatrical bombs (including Borderlands – which might be one of the priciest duds of all time), and, of course, the disaster that was Joker: Folie a Deux.

CBS has released a first look teaser for “Beyond the Gates,” the first new daytime broadcast soap opera in years, which launches in place of “The Talk” in the new year. Project is the first to come from a CBS Studios/NAACP joint venture.

Per the show’s logline: “‘Beyond the Gates’ is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington, D.C., and in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States. Here you’ll find a posh gated community with winding tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions to call home. At the center of this community are the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty. But behind these pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered. And those who live outside these gates are watching closely. These are the places where our characters live,...

Ladies and gentlemen, guild award season is upon us. First up? The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild. The union will hold the 12th annual Make-up and Hair Stylist Awards in February. Leading the list of this year’s nominees were “The Substance,” “The Deliverance,” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” with three nominations each. In theory, Tim Burton’s franchise earned five nominations if you count the two commercial nods associated with its marketing campaign.

Continue reading ‘The Substance,’ ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,’ & ‘The Penguin’ Top 2025 Make-up and Hair Stylist Guild Nominations at The Playlist.

Here's the full list of nominees for the Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Awards.  Winners will be announced on February 15. Nominees For Outstanding Make-up Artists & Hair Stylists Are: Feature-length Motion Picture Best Contemporary Make-Up The Deliverance (Netflix) Beverly Jo Pryor, Eric Pagdin, Chloe Sens, Doug Fairall Emilia Pérez (Netflix) Julia Floch Carbonel, Simon Livet

The post The Substance Leads Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Nominations appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (Muahs, IATSE Local 706) has announced the nominees for the 12th annual Muahs Guild Awards, with The Penguin, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, The Substance and The Deliverance leading the competition with three nods each.

Max’s The Penguin received nominations for best special make-up effects, best contemporary hairstyling and best contemporary make-up, with Beetlejuice Beetlejuice receiving nods for best period and/or character make-up, best period and/or character hairstyling and best special make-up effects. (Secret’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice “Lifesaver” commercial was also nominated for best make-up and best hairstyling.) Both The Substance and The Deliverance were nominated in the categories of best contemporary make-up, best contemporary hairstyling and best special make-up effects.

Wicked and Gladiator II also received two nominations each in the categories of best period and/or character make-up and best period and/or character hairstyling. It Ends With Us garnered nominations for best...

“The Substance,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and “The Deliverance” topped the 12th annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Award nominations with three apiece.

Right behind with two nominations are “Gladiator II,” “Wicked,” and “Deadpool and Wolverine,” while other Oscar hopefuls like “Emilia Pérez,” and “A Different Man” scored a single bid. Notably missing from the nominations are “Nosferatu” and “Dune: Part Two.”

Last season, “Maestro” and “Saltburn” each took home two awards from the guild. While “Saltburn” was snubbed by the Oscars, “Maestro” was nominated but lost to “Poor Things.”

On the TV side, “Dancing with the Stars” led the way with five nominations.

Winners will be announced on Feb. 15. As previously announced, makeup artist Todd McIntosh and hair stylist Peter Tothpal will receive lifetime achievement awards.

See the full list of nominations below.

Feature-length Motion Picture

Best Contemporary Make-Up

The Deliverance (Netflix)

Beverly Jo Pryor, Eric Pagdin, Chloe Sens, Doug Fairall...

Horror dominated the nominations for the 12th annual Muahs Guild Awards, with “The Substance,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” and the surprising “The Deliverance” each nabbing three nominations apiece. The makeup and hairstyling awards will take place Saturday, February 15, 2025, at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel.

“The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s body horror fairy tale starring Demi Moore, earned nominations for Best Contemporary Makeup, Best Special Makeup Effects, and Best Contemporary Hairstyling.

Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which marks the return of Michael Keaton’s foul-mouth ghoul from the afterlife, snagged Best Period and/or Character Makeup, Best Special Makeup Effects, and Best Period and/or Character Hairstyling.

“The Deliverance,” Lee Daniels’ supernatural horror film based on the Ammons haunting case, also scored nominations for Best Contemporary Makeup, Best Special Makeup Effects, and Best Contemporary Hairstyling.

Earning two nominations were “Wicked” (Best Period and/or Character Makeup and Best Period and/or Character Hairstyling...

Coralie’s Fargeat’s “The Substance,” “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” and “The Deliverance” led the 12th annual Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild Award nominations.

The body horror of Fargeat’s “The Substance” resonated with the make-up and hair stylist guild with three nominations. Special effects artist Pierre Olivier Persin explained that Fargeat wanted to use practical effects, instead of digital CGI, where possible. 70-80% of what was seen in the film was practical, including the MonstroElisaSue creation which features at the end.

“Gladiator 2” and “Deadpool and Wolverine” each landed two nominations a piece. Other films that scored include “Shirley,” “Bob Marley: One Love” and “The Last Showgirl.”

Missing from the nominations were nods for “Maria,” “Nosferatu” and “Dune: Part II.”

In the television category, “Dancing With the Stars” landed five nominations across the hair and make-up categories.

Lady Gaga’s “Chromatica Ball Film” was also nominated, landing her personal makeup artist,...

The Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild has applied the nominations for its 12th annual Muahs Guild Awards, which will be handed out in February. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is tied for the film lead with three noms alongside The Substance and The Deliverance.

The long-awaited Tim Burton sequel actually scored five noms if you count the two for a related deodorant commercial.

Also vying for Muahs are such top-grossing and/or awards-season hopefuls as Wicked, Deadpool & Wolverine, Gladiator II, Emilia Pérez, The Last Showgirl and Megalopolis. See the full list of nominees in 23 categories spanning motion pictures, television, live theater, commercials and music videos below.

On the TV side, Dancing with the Stars — which waltzed off with three Muahs in 2024 — leads everyone with five nominations, followed by Saturday Night Live and the MTV Video Music Awards with four each. The Penguin waddled away with three.

The Muahs Awards in October revealed...

As an actor, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor has never regarded the camera as her ally.

“I’ve always felt like it was an enemy, because it feels intrusive,” says Ellis-Taylor, folding her legs under her on the couch in a West Hollywood hotel as she discusses her latest role in “Nickel Boys.”

Movie sets are like construction sites, where filmmakers build a world out of nothing. There, in the middle of all that hammering and people rigging lights, “actors are asked to transform and have a human experience with a big-ass piece of machinery that is a foot away from you,” she says. “And then you’re not supposed to look at it.”

“Nickel Boys” — in which she plays Hattie, the dutiful grandmother of a teenage boy wrongfully sentenced to attend a brutal reform school — presented a unique challenge. Director RaMell Ross shot the harrowing drama in a distinct visual style, with...

Thanksgiving has long been a deadline of sorts for studios campaigning for Oscar nominations, because it offers the tempting proposition of a holiday weekend in which voters might have free time to catch up on movies. In past years, that meant a steady stream of screener DVDs arriving in voters’ mailboxes in the days before Thanksgiving – but now, with the Academy focusing on its members-only screening platform and placing restrictions on physical screeners, the push is to get new films into the Academy Screening Room before the holiday.

Fifteen new films were added to that room on Wednesday, a departure from the usual weekly additions, which typically come every Friday. The newcomers include Best Picture contenders “Conclave” and “The Piano Lesson,” following a Nov. 22 influx that included “Emilia Perez,” “Joker: Folie a Deux,” “Juror No. 2,” “Nightbitch,” “A Real Pain,” “The Room Next Door,” “Saturday Night” and “September 5.”

But some major films are still missing,...

Cameron Diaz is ending her decade-long acting hiatus with “Back in Action,” a Netflix two-hander she stars in alongside Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx. The streaming service released a teaser trailer for the action comedy.

Diaz and Foxx play former CIA agents who gave up that dangerous life when they started a family. But when their cover is blown, they’re pulled back into the world of espionage. And you know what? They still like it. “For the first time in a long time, I felt alive again. I felt like ‘the bitch’ again,” Diaz’s Emily tells Foxx’s Matt, intercut with a scene of them fighting assassins at a gas station, with Matt using a pump as a flamethrower and Emily jumping off the hood of an SUV for a takedown. And their kids are seeing them in a whole new light. If you’re looking for another...

Updated November 13, 2:59 p.m., with exclusive details: Netflix VP Film Niija Kuykendall is the latest executive out at the streamer amid staff trimming heading into the holidays.

We hear that Kuykendall will depart after a transition period through the end of the year. No next destination was disclosed.

Sources tell us the departure comes amidst the continued realignment of Netflix’s ‘pod’ system of executive oversight since Dan Lin took over the streamer’s top film post from Scott Stuber earlier this year — a system that has executives responsible for oversight of particular genres.

With Netflix for nearly three years, Kuykendall has had oversight of faith-based, YA and holiday films. Amidst her departure, YA will move over the comedies and rom-coms pod led by Jason Young, who we’ve learned exclusively has been promoted to VP Film. In more news, faith-based and holiday films will move over to the...

Netflix film executive Niija Kuykendall is leaving the streamer after three years.

She joined in October 2021 as VP of film, where she oversaw a new department focusing on mid-sized holiday, faith-based and young adult movies. Netflix didn’t give a reason for her departure but confirmed she’ll be exiting the company at the end of the year.

“Niija’s creative relationships with established and upcoming filmmakers, like Tyler Perry, Denzel and Malcolm Washington, and David Yates, have had a great impact on our film slate,” Netflix’s film VP Doug Belgrad said in a statement. “I want to thank her for her many contributions, including films such as ‘The Piano Lesson,’ ‘The Deliverance,’ ‘The Six Triple Eight,’ ‘Pain Hustlers’ and ‘Mea Culpa.’”

Kuykendall was hired by Netflix’s former film chief Scott Stuber, who was replaced earlier this year by Dan Lin. In Lin’s first month on the job,...

Netflix VP of Film Niija Kuykendall is leaving the company after a three year stint, The Wrap has learned.

The exec will leave at the end of the year following a transitional period. Kuykendall joined the streamer in 2021 and oversaw faith-based, young adult and holiday features.

“Niija’s creative relationships with established and upcoming filmmakers, like Tyler Perry, Denzel and Malcolm Washington, and David Yates, have had a great impact on our film slate,” Netflix vp of film Doug Belgrad said in a statement to The Wrap. “I want to thank her for her many contributions, including films such as ‘The Piano Lesson,’ ‘The Deliverance,’ ‘The Six Triple Eight,’ ‘Pain Hustlers’ and ‘Mea Culpa.’”

Before she joined Netflix, Kuykendall worked for 13 and a half years as Executive Vice President, Film Production at Warner Bros Pictures. Kuykendall is the latest senior executive to depart Netflix in recent months, following film chief...

Netflix film executive Niija Kuykendall is departing the company after three years.

The vp film joined the streaming service in October 2021 and managed faith-based, young adult and holiday features. She will exit at the end of the year following a transitional period.

Her forthcoming slate includes Tyler Perry’s The Six Triple Eight, starring Kerry Washington in the story of the only Women’s Army Corps unit of color during World War II, and first-time director Malcolm Washington’s The Piano Lesson, an August Wilson play adaptation.

“Niija’s creative relationships with established and upcoming filmmakers, like Tyler Perry, Denzel and Malcolm Washington, and David Yates, have had a great impact on our film slate,” Netflix vp of film Doug Belgrad said in a statement. “I want to thank her for her many contributions, including films such as The Piano Lesson, The Deliverance, The Six Triple Eight, Pain Hustlers and Mea Culpa.

Andra Day will play Athena in Season 2 of the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. A first look at the character has also been revealed.

The news of Day joining the series as Athena was announced during a virtual panel hosted by Disney's D23 Brasil. A newly released image also reveals Day as the Goddess Athena, joined by Leah Jeffries as Annabeth Chase. Additionally, Day appeared in a video shared on social media in which she expresses her excitement about coming on board for the hit Disney+ series.

View this post on InstagramA post shared by Percy Jackson (@percyseries)

Related Percy Jackson and the Olympians Casts its Thalia Grace for Season 2

Disney reveals who will play the fan-favorite daughter of Zeus in Percy Jackson and the Olympians, whose story plays a key role in season 2's plot.

In the video, Day says, "Hi, Percy Jackson fans! Andra Day here.

Andra Day is joining the cast!

Production is underway for Season 2 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and producers have just found their Athena in the 39-year-old The Deliverance star.

The exciting announcement was made during a virtual panel at Disney’s D23 Expo in Brazil.

Keep reading to find out more…

For a little background, via Variety: Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is one of the most important Olympian characters in Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson books, being the mother of Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), Percy’s (Walker Scobell) close friend and fellow demigod.

Six other actors are joining the cast, and five more and returning for the second season. See all the casting updates!

Watch the announcement…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Percy Jackson (@percyseries)...

Andra Day is joining the Season 2 cast of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” as Athena.

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, is one of the most important Olympian characters in Rick Riordan’s “Percy Jackson” books, being the mother of Annabeth Chase (Leah Sava Jeffries), Percy’s (Walker Scobell) close friend and fellow demigod.

Day made her acting debut in Lee Daniels’ 2021 biopic “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” in which she played the title role. The film earned her a Golden Globe for best drama actress and a Grammy for best soundtrack as well as a lead actress Oscar nomination. Her other screen credits include lead roles in the 2024 films “Exhibiting Forgiveness” and “The Deliverance,” with the latter also being directed by Daniels. Before playing Billie Holliday, she was best known for her work as an R&b singer. Her discography includes the albums “Cheers to the Fall,” released...

Tyler Perry, Regina King, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and “The Best Man’s” Malcolm D. Lee will be honored at the Critics Choice Association’s seventh annual Celebration of Black Cinema and Television.

Actor and comedian Jay Pharoah, best known for “Saturday Night Live” and his recent comedy special “Jared,” will host the gala on Dec. 9 at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The ceremony will air on Starz in January 2025. It will then be televised on Ktla and shown nationwide on select Nexstar stations through the month of February in honor of Black History Month.

Perry will be presented with the Icon Award, celebrating his body of work. In addition to his upcoming Netflix film “The Six Triple Eight”, Perry has helmed 24 feature films, 20 stage plays, 17 television shows and penned two New York Times bestselling books, in addition to establishing the 330-acre Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.

Lee will be...

Samuel L. Jackson and Grammy Award winner Andra Day lead the cast of the upcoming action-comedy movie The Honest Liar. Day won a Grammy Award for the 2021 movie The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which she also starred in and earned her a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award nomination. She more recently appeared in Netflix's 2024 horror movie The Deliverance and played herself in Peacock's Bel-Air series. The Honest Liar's cast also includes dgar Ramrez, who previously starred in the second season of American Crime Story and in HBO's The Undoing.

As per Deadline, The Honest Liar features Jackson playing an acclaimed movie actor, Nick DeFranco, who teaches undercover police officers how to act like criminals in exchange for avoiding prison time. However, Nick's job becomes more complicated when he finds himself falling for one of the undercover female police officers he is instructing. The project is written and directed by Wayne Kramer,...

Veteran actress Glenn Close will receive AARP’s Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award in January for her achievements over five decades in Hollywood. The award recognizes Close’s work challenging ageist stereotypes and her contributions to films appealing to audiences over 50.

Close, now 77 years old, began acting in movies at age 35 and immediately received an Oscar nomination for her first role. Since then, she has starred in iconic films such as “The Big Chill,” “Fatal Attraction,” and the Oscar-winning “Dangerous Liaisons.” Close’s groundbreaking role in 1983’s “The Big Chill” focused on baby boomers experiencing aging, making it an early blockbuster on the topic.

Close continues to show her versatility with roles in upcoming projects. She acts alongside stars like Kim Kardashian and Sarah Paulson in Ryan Murphy’s legal drama “All’s Fair” for Hulu. Close also appears in the Netflix film “The Deliverance” and the new “Knives Out...

Glenn Close is set to receive the Career Achievement Award at AARP’s annual Movies for Grownups Awards.

The ceremony will take place on Sunday, January 11, 2025, with an event hosted by Alan Cumming. PBS is set to air the gala in February.

“I am so honored to receive the AARP Movies for Grownups Career Achievement Award even though I feel like I’m still 35, if not younger,” Close said in a statement. “I love making movies for grownups and everyone else, and I deeply appreciate the inspiration and support of the people I have worked with over 50 years. Thank you, AARP, for this great honor.”

AARP’s Movies for Grownups advocates for audiences 50 and older by fighting industry ageism and encouraging films and TV shows that resonate with older viewers.

AARP EVP & Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Martha Boudreau said, “Glenn Close starred in The Big Chill, the first blockbuster...

Tues. Oct. 22

Tribeca Films has partnered with Kanopy and Kinema to stream the label’s catalog of independent films which have been featured at top festivals. Tribeca is the first festival to license films with Kanopy and Kinema.

The first collection of films under the agreement with Kanopy include: the 2022 Tribeca Festival Best Narrative winner, “Good Girl Jane;” “Mary Heilmann: Waves, Roads, & Hallucinations;” “A Bronx Tale;” “In Her Name;” and others. New label releases are also available on Kinema, among these are favorites like “Listen Up Philip” and “My Awkward Sexual Adventure.”

Kanopy is an educational library for streaming as it collaborates with public libraries and universities to feature its content without requiring a fee or including commercials. Kinema is a direct-to-consumer platform that delivers live screenings to audiences in person or virtually on demand. They work through a “Pay What You Wish” feature.

Glenn Close to Receive AARP’s...

Exclusive: Veteran producer Tucker Tooley is partnering with Big3, the 3-on-3 basketball league founded by show biz multi-hyphenate Ice Cube and longtime entertainment executive Jeff Kwatinetz, for a docuseries chronicling its rise to prominence over the last seven years.

Not yet titled, the series will tell the unflinchingly truthful story of the first new sports league to succeed since the UFC. Each episode will delve into the challenges and controversies of the past seven seasons, as well as the eclectic personalities, pinnacles, and heartbreaks on the court as teams vie for the 2025 championship title. Additionally, the series will examine the ongoing off-the-court entrepreneurial challenges of bringing a new sport and league to market.

News of the Big3 series comes following the recent conclusion of the league’s seventh season — its most-viewed season on record. Fully financed, the project will be produced by Tooley under his Tooley Entertainment banner. No word...

Following the success of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black, and Christopher Hampton’s musical Sunset Boulevard, adapted from Billy Wilder’s 1950 film by the same name, Jamie Lloyd returned with a revival of the theatrical version in October 2024. Starring The Pussycat Dolls’ Nicole Scherzinger as the lead, Lloyd turned the actress’ Broadway debut into a major hit.

Nicole Scherzinger | image: Joel Telling, licensed under Cc By Sa 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Using minimal style and set design, Jamie Lloyd brought back the iconic fashion, replicating the 50s era in Nicole Scherzinger’s Sunset Boulevard. But despite the excitement and ambition surrounding the Broadway show, let’s get straight to the fact that there’s no Hollywood ending. So while buckling up for some heartbreak and star-studded performance, let’s dive into the show and learn what to expect from it.

Lead Actresses Who Previously Appeared in Sunset Boulevard Shows

After music...

Exclusive: Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (King Richard) and Rachelle Lefevre (Twilight franchise) have wrapped on Liz Here Now, a new indie drama from director Sterling Macer Jr.

Shot in Lexington, Ky, the film is based on the novel of the same name by Todd Connor. The story follows Liz Baxter (Ellis-Taylor), who works as a nanny for a prominent, white family in Oakland, California during the rise of the Black Panther Party in 1967. When Liz discovers that the Connor children are suffering under the hand of their mother, Jane (Lefevre), and attempts to step in to protect the children, she’s accused of participating in a Black Panther conspiracy.

In a statement on the project, Macer Jr. told Deadline, “Our approach to Liz Here Now is a kind of deconstruction of the black maid’s story, and to a degree, bends the genre of the civil rights era domestic drama,...

Exclusive: Up-and-comers Arlan Ruf and Ellis Hobbs IV will round out the cast of Way of the Warrior Kid, Apple Original Films’ youth empowerment tale, based on the novel by Jocko Willink.

The project marks the first big film for both, who alongside Jude Hill, Levi McConaughey and Ava Torres, play a couple of the titular warrior kids. As previously announced, Chris Pratt and Linda Cardellini also star in the pic from Skydance Media.

Way of the Warrior Kid follows a self-doubting boy (Hill) who gets bullied and is hard-pressed to complete a single pull-up. That’s until his uncle Jake (Pratt), an elite Navy Seal, is injured on a mission and moves in with his sister (Cardellini) for rehab. When he discovers his 13-year-old nephew, Marc, is struggling academically, socially and physically, Jake takes on a new mission: using his Seal Team training over three months of summer to...

Stars: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Anthony B. Jenkins, Caleb McLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo’Nique, Omar Epps | Written by David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum | Directed by Lee Daniels

Across his career, Lee Daniels has directed an array of works which each bring with them Academy Award aspirations. Whether that translates into nominations or not is another story, although Daniels takes a different approach with The Deliverance.

Working off a script by David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum, Daniels’ sixth feature is a horror film inspired by the real-life Ammons haunting case. Unfolding in Pittsburgh, 2011, the story follows single mother Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) as she struggles to raise her three children. During this, she looks after her elderly mother Alberta (Glenn Close) who has cancer, and fights her own personal demons. They have moved into a new house in the hope of a fresh start, but strange occurrences within raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services,...

The streaming wars might be tighter than ever. While horror heavy hitters like Beetlejuice and The Deliverance continue to stake their claim on streaming in the spirit of the spooky season, the week has also seen a couple of surprising choices cementing their spot in the rankings. Although Netflixs Uglies hasnt had the best reviews from critics, its earned a massive audience reception over the week. Old releases such as the alien action flick Edge of Tomorrow also make a resurgence, pushing Tom Cruises name into the top streaming rankings.

“I don’t know the last time I watched so many films! And they’re all amazing, all so daring, so courageous!”

You can hear the excitement in Lee Daniels’ voice. He’s running between screenings in a movie marathon at the Zurich Film Festival, where the Oscar-nominated director of Precious, and co-creator of TV’s Empire, is president of this year’s competition jury.

“I’d forgotten what this is like,” says Daniels, referring to the international art house cinema scene. “It’s a real return to my roots for me.”

Daniels started his film career in the indie world, as a producer on Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball. The powerful, disturbing look at the American prison system and the poisonous legacy of institutional racism is told through the unlikely romance between a white prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) and the Black widow of a man he executed (Halle Berry...

The top two streaming titles from the first week of September held their spots in the second week — and both improved on their debut showings.

Netflix’s limited series The Perfect Couple and its movie Rebel Ridge ranked first and second overall on Nielsen’s streaming charts for the week of Sept. 9-15, just as they did over the prior seven days. The Perfect Couple drew 1.97 billion minutes of viewing time (up a bit from 1.91 bilion), and Rebel Ridge grew to 1.28 billion minutes from 1.11 billion for its premiere week.

Also showing significant growth: Hulu’s unscripted show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, which improved by 78 percent week to week and broke into the overall top 10 with 729 million minutes of viewing. Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (747 million minutes) fell off some after two weeks over 1 billion minutes. Emily in Paris (708 million) moved back...

The Perfect Couple shot to the top overall spot in Nielsen’s streaming rankings for its premiere week.

The murder mystery limited series, which stars Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning, accumulated 1.91 billion minutes of viewing for the week of Sept. 2-8 (it premiered on Sept. 5). That’s the fifth highest total for any original series premiere week on the streaming charts this year, behind Fool Me Once (3.04 billion minutes), Fallout (2.9 billion), Bridgerton (2.76 billion) and Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender (2.56 billion).

The Perfect Couple was one of five titles to record more than a billion minutes of viewing for the week. The others are Netflix’s movie Rebel Ridge (1.11 billion), Family Guy (1.06 billion), Prison Break (1.05 billion) — which had been the overall No. 1 for the previous four weeks — and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (1.02 billion), which was even with its season two premiere a week earlier.

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Netflix originals were a big hit the first week of September. That’s what the latest measurements from Nielsen are showing. From Sept. 2 – 8, two Netflix originals — “The Perfect Couple” and “Rebel Ridge” — secured the first and second spots, respectively, on Nielsen’s overall top 10 streaming list, securing nearly three billion viewing minutes in their opening weekend.

The Nicole Kidman miniseries “The Perfect Couple” generated 1.9 billion viewing minutes, a viewership number that was driven by an audience that was 70% female. “Rebel Ridge” followed in second place with 1.1 billion viewing minutes thanks to a slightly younger audience that was split fairly evenly between men and women.

“Family Guy” was third on the list, scoring 1.06 billion minutes on Hulu, a third of which came from Black viewers. That was then followed by...

“Magazine Dreams” is turning the page.

The drama, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023, quickly became one of the most buzzed-about films at the festival and was promptly acquired by Searchlight Pictures. But after its star Jonathan Majors was found guilty of assault and harassment, the studio dropped the movie from its release schedule. It was initially thought of as a potential Oscar powerhouse, especially for Majors’ towering lead performance.

Now, Briarcliff Entertainment, which is releasing the similarly hot-button Donald Trump movie “The Apprentice” later this month, has acquired the rights to “Magazine Dreams.” Briarcliff is planning an early 2025 release.

The film is the directorial debut of writer Elijah Bynum, who recently co-wrote Lee Daniels’ Netflix horror movie “The Deliverance.” It follows a bodybuilder (Majors) who slips into a world of obsession and violence in his quest for body perfection. The movie also stars Haley Bennett, Taylour Paige,...

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” debuted with 2.7 billion minutes watched in its first full week of availability on Netflix, easily landing on top of Luminate’s weekly ranking of streaming original viewership. The Ryan Murphy series was nearly three times above the next-most-watched title of the week: “The Perfect Couple,” which hit 916.4 million minutes watched in its third full week of availability.

There was another large drop-off between second place and third place, with “Tulsa King” Season 2 accruing 916.4 million minutes watched in the week of the release of its second episode. Next was a tie: “Emily in Paris” Season 4 in the second full week of availability of Part 2, and “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Season 2 in the first full week of availability of its sixth episode and the first day of availability of its seventh episode. Both titles hit 398.3 million minutes watched.

"Agatha All Along,...

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“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” debuted its second season as Nielsen’s No. 2 most-watched streaming program in the last week of August.

The Prime Video series, which released the first three episodes of Season 2 on Thursday, Aug. 29, logged 1.015 billion minutes viewed across its 11 existing episodes during the interval of Aug. 26-Sept. 1, according to Nielsen. “The Rings of Power” stood as the most-watched original streaming show during the week, but was outpaced on the overall streaming list by “Prison Break.”

“Prison Break,” which has been gaining traction since it was added to Netflix in late July, continued its reign atop the overall streaming list for a fourth consecutive week, this time racking up 1.188 billion viewing minutes across Netflix and Hulu. Viewership for “Prison Break” saw a...