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How Many Spotify Streams Did NewJeans’ Omg Reach Amid Hiatus? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

NewJeans is currently going through a career setback. After announcing contract termination with their former agency, Ador, the group got embroiled in a series of lawsuits. Only a few days after re-debuting as Njz, the five members, Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, and Hyein, were forced to pause their activities due to an ongoing legal battle.

Despite concerns over their future in K-pop, the group continues to showcase power, as the song Omg, released in 2023, reached a new milestone. According to social media updates on April 3, 2025, NewJeans’ Omg surpassed a whopping 800 million streams on Spotify. This is the group’s first song in its official discography to reach this landmark. With Omg leading the way, the group now has 14 songs with over 100 million streams on Spotify.

“Omg” has surpassed 800 Million Streams on Spotify

Their 1st Song to do so

pic.

The sci-fi thriller The Assessment, starring Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina), Elizabeth Olsen (WandaVision), and Himesh Patel (Station Eleven), had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year, and is now heading for a March 21st theatrical release, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. With that date just a week away, a poster for the film has been unveiled and can be seen at the bottom of this article.

The feature directorial debut of music video director Fleur Fortuné, who was working from a screenplay by John Donnelly and Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, The Assessment centers on Mia (Olsen) and Aaryan (Patel), a successful couple who hope to become parents in a near future where resources are extremely limited and the government keeps firm control over reproduction. In looking to do so, the pair are assigned an assessor named Virginia (Vikander), who moves into their home for seven days to...

A new alternate full art Pokémon Trading Card Game version of Hop's Zacian ex has been revealed, and it seems fans aren't sure what to think of it. The new card will be part of the Japanese Battle Partners set that's scheduled for release in just a few days and is another addition to the surprising inclusion of Hop among the highlighted trainers.

The new full art card, revealed by PokéBeach, depicts the iconic cover Pokémon of Pokémon Sword, Zacian, striking a regal pose across 3/4th of the card. Behind it in the upper left corner is a drawing of the legendary mon's trainer, Hop, grinning and clenching a fist. While the whole image is bright and vibrant with heavy use of primary colors and thick, colored lines, Hop is painted in a light blue shade that makes him fade into the background in a way that some fans are calling ghostly.

Matt Damon & Ridley Scott’s The Martian Was Billed As A Comedy At The 73rd Golden Globe Awards (Photo Credit – Facebook)

Starring Matt Damon in one of his greatest on-screen performances, The Martian was a cinematic sensation in 2015, mesmerizing fans, critics, and award committees alike. The sci-fi space adventure also featured Jessica Chastain, reuniting her with Damon after another space journey: Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.

Directed by Ridley Scott, The Martian collected $600 million back on Earth — the highest of the Gladiator II director’s career. Recently, Scott once again addressed whether The Martian should be categorized as a comedy, a subject that has received immense traction over the years. While the Alien filmmaker embraced its script’s humorous undertones from before the genesis, audiences were unanimously impressed by The Martian due to its touching themes, action-packed sequences, and artistic world-building rather than belly laughs in theaters.

The discussion surrounding The Martian...

There is a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming Pokémon Trading Card Game expansion set Prismatic Evolutions, and although it might not entirely live up to it, it does still have some cards players will want to snag. Prismatic Evolutions will usher in Pokémon’s Year of Eevee by giving players new Tera ex versions of all the Eeveelutions. There are also a few new Eevees for these Pokémon to evolve from.

Aside from the Eeveelutions, there are a few exciting new cards that are decent counters for the current meta. One new card may even end up being a staple as long as it is in Standard, given its general appeal for a variety of decks. Since it looks like Prismatic Evolutions may be difficult to find, players may want to focus on just grabbing these individual cards.

Eevee Ex Is A Good Jumping Off Point Many Of This...

General Hospital spoilers reveal that speculation is that Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) is about to be paired with Sasha Gilmore (Sofia Mattsson).

It seems that the writers may have the idea of Jason playing father to Sasha’s baby she is expecting with Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell). Steve Burton does not want this pairing and has made no secret of that.

General Hospital Spoilers – Chad Duell Has Left The Building

General Hospital spoilers indicate that Chad announced his exit as Michael a few weeks ago. Currently, no one knows exactly how Michael will be taken off screen, just that he will disappear soon.

In the early release of Steve and Bradford Anderson’s Daily Podcast, Steve mentioned that Michael needed to come back next week and handle the situation.

Chad at first missed the point of Steve’s comment. However, Steve explained that he didn’t want Jason to be...

Uncork’d Entertainment has unleashed The Beast Inside, a powerful, female-driven horror film, On Digital and On Demand. This demonic horror breaks new ground with its focus on a fierce female protagonist who refuses to be victimized by the dark forces that threaten her and her family.

Written by and starring horror veteran Sadie Katz, known for Wrong Turn 6: The Last Resort, the Blood Feast remake, and The Amityville Harvest, The Beast Inside tells the story of Anne, a woman possessed by a demonic entity. When no one believes her, Anne is forced to take matters into her own hands and perform an exorcism on herself, all while desperately trying to protect her young son from the evil threatening their lives.

Katz’s portrayal of Anne is a tour de force of strength and resilience as she battles both the demon and the disbelief surrounding her. The film poignantly explores the terrifying reality that women,...

In Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, Fire-type decks can make for an entertaining and competitive deck to use in battles, especially with the huge amounts of damage potential. With cards like Mewtwo ex and Pikachu ex controlling the meta, you may neglect how powerful a well-made Fire-type deck can be. Using three incredibly strong ex cards in the mobile game and taking advantage of deck versatility, a Fire-type deck may be a perfect choice.

Venusaur ex decks have started to make more of an appearance in competitive battles, likely influenced by the Venusaur drop event. Given that Grass-types are weak to Fire-types, building a Fire-type deck offers a strong counter to this emerging trend. When used optimally, a fire-type deck can exploit this weakness but also possess the power and damage potential to dismantle the best decks in Pokémon Tcg Pocket.

Quick Links Best Cards For a Fire-type Deck In...

If you’ve been following the family for any length of time, then you’re probably already familiar with the Duggar’s ridiculous courtship rules.

Basically, Jim Bob and Michelle taught their kids from a young age that all forms of physical contact between unmarried members of the opposite sex are sinful.

In fact, the kids were told that even being alone in the presence of another male or female might be enough to condemn them to hell for all eternity.

Even by fundamentalist standards, these are pretty extreme beliefs, and it seems that they came as quite a shock to Jill Duggar’s husband, Derick Dillard.

Jill Duggar is telling her story like never before. (Photo Credit: Amazon Studios) Derick Dillard Learns The ‘Family Rules’

As you’re probably aware, Jill published a memoir last year, and she’s still giving some pretty revealing interviews while promoting the book.

This review contains spoilers for Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance. Proceed with caution.

One of Mobile Suit Gundam's greatest strengths is its nuanced depiction and understanding of war. No one side is purely just or wrong, while both heroes and villains share the same capacity to do good and evil. In the case of Gundam's classic Universal Century (Uc) timeline, this dichotomy is best embodied by the heroic Earth Federation Forces (Eff) and the antagonistic Principality of Zeon. The best Uc Gundam anime showed how the Eff and Zeon were more alike than different, and examined the human cost of this irony. Netflix's Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, however, is not one of those anime.

Set in the rarely-explored European front of the One Year War, Requiem for Vengeance bucks Gundam tradition by casting Zeon specifically, Captain Iria Solari and her elite Red Wolf unit as the heroes. Netflix's Gundam...

Greninja ex Ultra-Premium Collection features powerful Greninja cards and 16 booster packs. It's expected to release in November 2024, possibly alongside the Terapagos ex Ultra-Premium Collection. The collection includes a playmat, deck box, metallic coin, and accessories themed around Greninja.

A new Ultra-Premium Collection product coming to the Pokmon Trading Card Game is set to feature Greninja ex. Due to release later this year, the emerging details of of the Collections contents already show that fans of the Ninja Pokmon will have plenty to look forward to when it arrives. While there are regular releases of new products as part of every new Pokmon Tcg set, it is also worth noting that Ultra-Premium Collections in particular easily rank among the largest; naturally, this in itself gives them a very broad appeal.

Greninja has been a popular Pokmon since its debut in the franchise, and the Greninja ex cards which have come to...

Rogue actor Lenore Zann recently praised X-Men '97 for its Emmy nomination. Prior to this, X-Men: The Animated Series director Larry Houston sang the praises of X-Men '97's cameo-based legacy in May, remarking at the time that it was fun to see his "unauthorized use of cameos fully embraced by the highly-talented X-Men '97 team," albeit now with full official clearances.

In response to a post on X from the X-Men Updates account which professed that X-Men '97 had been "nominated for [Emmys] in the Outstanding Animated Program category for Episode 5: 'Remember It,'" Zann avowed, "I've said all along it's a team effort to create an animated series as superb as [X-Men: The Animated Series] and [X-Men '97]. Congrats To Our Entire Cast And Creative Team. Onwards and upwards. Excelsior!" Before this, Zann touched upon how X-Men: The Animated Series saved lives.

Related X-Men '97 Season 3 Gets New...

Alex Garland's "Ex Machina" isn't so much a film about the nature of artificial intelligence as it is a penetrating exposé of callow, sexist tech bros and how they, in their arrogant, macho way, try to define womanhood. "Ex Machina" follows Caleb (Donmhall Gleeson), a low-level coder at a high-tech robotics firm who has been specially selected to visit the home of the company's a-hole CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan has built a lifelike artificially intelligent robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander) who, he says, still needs to undergo several tests to ensure she is actually artificially intelligent. Caleb is tasked with interviewing Ava in what is essentially a prolonged Turing test.

Audiences soon learn, though, that Ava was constructed from Caleb's "porn profile" and that Nathan has installed her body with a working robotic vagina. As the two men discuss what qualifies as intelligence and consciousness from a machine perspective,...

The Young and the Restless (Y&r) spoilers reveal that Summer Newman (Allison Lanier) seems to have an issue with every decision Kyle Abbott (Michael Mealor) makes lately.

Summer is pushing Kyle way too hard. With Kyle getting more bitter and resentful, could the next target be Summer?

If Summer doesn’t ease up on Kyle, he could rip Harrison Abbott (Redding Munsell) away from her, especially since custody threats have been mentioned on the show.

The Young And The Restless Spoilers – Kyle Abbott’s Decisions

Y&r spoilers reveal that Summer has concerns about Kyle’s recent decisions. Summer had issues with Kyle suggesting Claire Grace (Hayley Erin) be Harrison’s nanny.

Summer also has issues with Kyle getting close to Audra Charles (Zuleyka Silver). Audra played it off as if she could be getting frisky with Kyle again.

However, right now, it’s just a business partnership. That could change in the future,...

Batman: Caped Crusader co-creator Bruce Timm delved into the kind of Dark Knight Caped Crusader introduces. Before this, a character description for Batman professed that he is "[a] cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man."

Timm brought this subject up in an interview with Empire, avowing that he wanted to "make [Batman] kind of weird, and spooky." He added, "If you're stuck in a room with Batman, whether you're Commissioner Gordon or Barbara Gordon or Renee Montoya, you don't feel comfortable. You're kind of like, 'What is this guy? Whats this all about?'"

Related Ex-X-Men '97 Showrunner Offers His Services to Batman: Caped Crusader

Ex-X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo offers his services to Batman: Caped Crusader in response to a post from Matt Reeves.

Timm went on to further note that Batman "weaponises Alfred," adding that Alfred's not Batman's surrogate father anymore. "He's a guy...

Alan Cumming can be recognized by X-Men fans for his role as Nightcrawler in the 2003 sequel X2: X-Men United. Looking back, the veteran actor feels that the movie is the "gayest" film he's appeared in.

Cumming spoke about his role in X2 during a new interview with Entertainment Weekly. He commented on how the movie was important because it had a queer director at the helm along with several queer cast members. For his part, Cumming is happy that the film was able to have so much involvement from the LGBTQ+ community, even as a mainstream property. He also said how he hoped that this aspect helped make people "less scared" of queerness.

Related 'Offensive and Straight-Washing': X-Men '97 Creator Defends Morph's Feelings for Wolverine

Ex-X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo defends Morph's feelings for Wolverine, avowing that his confession was "always romantic."

I think the X-Men film...

X-Men '97 supervising director Jake Castorena recently delved into taking more leaps with the show. Before this, he had talked about X-Men '97's TV-14 rating and the production team's goal with it.

Castorena touched upon this in an interview with DiscussingFilm.net when asked how elements like allowing the characters to swear influenced the way the production team approached telling the story, noting that it affects how they "set up technically for animation as a whole," knowing that they don't have the sort of broadcast standard X-Men: The Animated Series had. "For example, ['Tolerance is Extinction - Part 3'] was roughly 40 minutes; we worked with 20-something minutes of actual footage at first and then sent it out overseas," he continued. "They animated it, gave it back to us, and then we worked in tandem with the vendor. Once we get that back, that makes for room to elongate scenes, add or adjust banter, or create...

Ex-X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo recently shared a clip of Superman's first flight from Man of Steel against Martin Scorsese's superhero movie criticisms. DeMayo had previously confirmed that this inspired Storm's first flight in "Lifedeath - Part 2."

DeMayo shared the clip in question in a post on X (via ScreenRant) and commented above it, "Sorry, [Scorsese], #thisiscinema. Everything, the aspirational shot design and music, the flight choreography, Clark [Kent] going from sauntering with heavy burden to soaring and smiling, sell the hope and power of an outsider discovering hes too big for his adopted home."

Related 'To Me, My Childhood': X-Men '97 Gets the Honest Trailers Treatment

X-Men '97 gets the Honest Trailers treatment two months after Honest Trailers ripped Madame Web to shreds.

Sorry, Scoersce, #thisiscinema. Everything, the aspirational shot design and music, the flight choreography, Clark going from sauntering with heavy burden to soaring and smiling,...

Ex-X-Men '97 showrunner Beau DeMayo discussed throwing shade at Fox's X-Men costumes in "Tolerance is Extinction - Part 2." However, DeMayo also revealed a bit of irony about it.

In a post on X, DeMayo professed in regard to the topic, "[Okay,] I love the [Bryan] Singer [movies]. But we had to" Later, in a subsequent post, when a fan who commented that X-Men '97 "finally [provided] the correct comeback to the 'yellow spandex' line from the first movie," and bet that the line had been "brewing for over two decades," DeMayo coyly replied, "Maybe." The "yellow spandex" joke itself had been previously talked by X-Men producer Ralph Winter in 2020 when he was asked in an interview how much discussion went into utilizing the leather outfits instead of the comic book costumes.

Related X-Men '97 Clip Reveals the Return of Classic Costumes The Children of the Atom go retro in a clip from this week's episode of X-Men '97,...

The Office universe expands with another mockumentary-style comedy focused on a historic Midwest newspaper and its volunteer reporters. This new series, co-developed by Greg Daniels (from the original U.S. version) with Michael Koman (of Nathan for You) will stream on Peacock. The upcoming show is not a reboot, but a new addition to the Dunder Mifflin universe, and will star Domhnall Gleeson and Sabrina Impacciatore.

The Office universe is expanding with a new mockumentary-style comedy on Peacock. Variety reports that the streamer announced a formal series order on Wednesday. The upcoming series, which is yet to be named, will exist in the same universe as the beloved The Office but will welcome a new cast of characters in a different setting. The possibility of a new Office-verse show began growing in January, with former showrunner Greg Daniels assembling a team to develop a series set in the same mockumentary universe.

The Office reboot has been ordered to series at Peacock. It'll bring back the same documentary crew that chronicled the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin in the Steve Carrell series. The reboot will star Sabrina Impacciatore and Domhnall Gleeson.

New details on The Office spinoff have finally been revealed, with a key connection to the past uncovered as the project moves forward at Peacock. It was reported late last year that a reboot of The Office was in the works from Greg Daniels, who developed the U.S. version of the comedy. It's been confirmed more recently that The Office reboot will star The White Lotus season 2 actor Sabrina Impacciatore and Ex-Machina actor Domhnall Gleeson. Daniels has also clarified that the story would take place within the same world as the popular NBC comedy led by Steve Carrell.

Now, according to TVLine, new information about the plot reveals what the connection will be.

Bachelor star Peter Weber’s love life continues to be messy. Was he caught canoodling with one of his many exes? Keep reading for all the juicy details.

Bachelor Star Done With Dating Shows

Peter Weber failed to find love with Hannah Brown on Season 15 of The Bachelorette. He also came up empty on his season of The Bachelor, despite dating multiple contestants after the show ended.

He called off his engagement to Hannah Ann Sluss to date Madison Prewett, then quickly moved on to Kelley Flanagan. Peter then dated Kelley off-and-on for several years before calling it quits for good.

Bachelor Nation fans shouldn’t expect to see Pilot Pete on another show in the franchise. He told People magazine last month that he plans to “stay away” from dating shows. “That’s not really my forte,” he added.

Instagram/Peter Weber

However, according to Peter Weber, another reality...

In a concerning turn of events for anime viewers, another major Crunchyroll premiere has been leaked online before its intended release date. Fans on social media are currently reporting leaks of Sound! Euphonium Season 3, Episode 1 (Hibike! Euphonium) ahead of its intended official Crunchyroll premiere of April 7, 2024.

Via X (formerly Twitter), Sound! Euphonium Season 3's debut episode is listed on a major torrent site with English subtitles. Many believe that this leak came from a vulnerability within Crunchyroll's operations; the popular anime was listed as part of Crunchyroll's highly awaited Spring 2024 anime lineup. Readers can check out the various reactions below, ranging from jokes to frustration.

Related Solo Leveling Anime Doubles Episode Count With Official Season 2 Announcement The Solo Levelinganime announces an exciting return with Season 2, taking the series episode count up to a minimum of 24 to 25 in total. sound euphonium s3 leaked bout to peep catch yall on the other...

April 2024 Ott Releases Has An Interesting LineUp Of Family Films ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Another month has arrived with fresh arrivals to change your palette completely. While the month of March offered comedy-drama like Sunflower 2 and Sara Ali Khan’s patriotic drama Ae Watan Mere Watan, it also offered dark comedy like Murder Mubarak and social commentary like Patna Shuklla. April 2024 recommends a totally new set of watchable content on Ott.

This month seems to be high on emotions and bonds, bringing more family dramas to the table than you asked for, but it seems like each one of them comes across as an intriguing watch.

There is already a lot of Hollywood content lined up, including Scoop, Rebel Moon: Part 2 The Scargiver, Parasyte The Grey and Crooks arriving on Ott. But if you are in a dilemma about What To Watch In April 2024 On Ott, then we definitely have you covered.

The Great Indian Kapil Show to Crew: What To Watch This Weekend ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

The month of March is filled with many exciting and big releases. The audience is treated with all kinds of content in every genre – comedy, thriller, romance and much more. Kapil Sharma is now all set to rule the Ott world with The Great Indian Kapil Show! On the other hand, the audience will be entertained with love and laughter with Premalu.

It’s a long weekend due to the Good Friday holiday, so even theatrical releases this week are intriguing. Crew ft Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan & Kriti Sanon is finally making its way! If you are not updated with what’s releasing this week, do not worry. We have made a list of titles that will drop on streaming platforms, as well as movies that will rule the big screen this weekend.

Here’s...

A24 will be giving Civil War, the latest film from Alex Garland, the director of Ex Machina, Annihilation, Devs, and Men, a theatrical release on April 12th – and with that release date just a couple months away, a new trailer for the film has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

The screenplay Garland wrote for Civil War digs into what happens when 19 states secede from the United States, with factions forming in the West and Florida. Meanwhile, the President says the conflict will be dealt with swiftly, but are things already impossible to control? While some choose to engage with the catastrophe head-on, others prefer to pretend like it’s not happening right outside their door. As the President sends the American military out to “resolve” matters in the West, people are left to despair as the world burns around them. Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst’s...

Did Embracer Group get too big, too soon? We chart the rise and financial turmoil of one of the videogames industry’s giants.

In the spring of 2022, Embracer Group was a games industry colossus, with its market valuation sitting at almost $10bn. By this point, the Swedish company owned some of the biggest properties and studios around, having recently purchased the rights to the likes of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and Thief from Japan’s Square Enix, as well as several studios involved in making them, including Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal.

The firm also had a wealth of other major names crowded under its banner, including rights to The Lord Of The Rings, comic book publisher Dark Horse Media, Gearbox Software, creators of the Borderlands series, and Asmodee, a publisher of card and tabletop games.

In a company profile published by the Financial Times, one industry analyst criticised Embracer...

Just weeks before Alain Guiraudie is set to begin production on his seventh feature film, we learn (via the lesinrocks folks) that the cast of Miséricorde is comprised of veteran actress Catherine Frot along with Felix Kysyl, Jean-Baptiste Durand, Jacques Develay and David Ayala. Guiraudie will be reteaming with cinematographer Claire Mathon for a third time – they previously paired on Stranger by the Lake and Staying Vertical. Mathon was most recently on the set for Pablo Agüero’s Saint-Ex. Sold by the Les Films du Losange folks, with production beginning in next month we figure that a Cannes showing is not in the cards with a Locarno or Venice premiere more probable.…...

Miley Cyrus is sharing some behind-the-scenes information about that controversial Vanity Fair shoot when she was 15-years-old.

The singer spoke out about the shot as part of her “Used to Be Young” TikTok series.

“We gotta go there,” Cyrus said while looking at the Annie Liebovitz cover, adding: “2008.”

The “Wrecking Ball” hitmaker went on, “Everyone knows the controversy of the photo, but they don’t really know the behind-the-scenes, which is always much more meaningful.

“My little sister Noah was sitting on Annie’s lap and actually pushing the button of the camera, taking the pictures,” Cyrus — who obviously went on to become much more controversial — recalled. “My family was on set.”

Read More: Miley Cyrus Admits The Malibu House She And Ex Liam Hemsworth Lost To Devastating Wildfires ‘Had So Much Magic To It’

@mileycyrusUsed To Be Young (Series) – Part 15♬ Used To Be Young – Miley Cyrus

She mentioned that...

Fox’s Animal Control, which premiered today, stars Community grad Joel McHale as an animal control officer in Seattle. But is the new comedy more fun than a barrel of monkeys?

Before we ask your thoughts on the series — which hails from writer Bob Fisher (Wedding Crashers, The Moodys), producer Rob Greenberg (How I Met Your Mother) and Fox Entertainment — check out this quick recap of “Weasels and Ostriches.”

More from TVLineRatings: Animal Control Outperforms Flatch, Call Me Kat Eyes Season HighsTVLine Items: Starsky & Hutch Reboot, Elizabeth Olsen Series Teaser and More9-1-1: Lone Star Puts #Tarlos Through Hell on Valentine's Day,...

Belgium’s Oscar© 2023 Submission for Best International Feature: ‘Close’ by Lukas DhontTipped for a top spot on the Oscar Nominated Best International Feature, ‘Close’, the second feature directed by the young Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont brings the innocence of youth into a confrontation with uneasy societal agreements about what is and what is not acceptable. Young boys are especially sensitive to their peers’ opinions and these two boys, friends forever, are suddenly put into a situation demanding a sense of oneself that they are still too young to have developed fully. When it premiered in Competition at Cannes, it received a 12-minute standing ovation, and shared the festival’s Grand Prix with Claire Denis’ ‘Stars At Noon’.

The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys suddenly gets disrupted. Close stars Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele as two thirteen year old boys, Léo and Rémi, whose tender friendship is tragically broken. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The delicacy with which the two young actors are handled speaks highly of the director Lucas Dhont.

The fragile bud of sexual awakening is a suject explored as well in his previous film, his 2018 debut, about a young transgender dancer. Girl was also handled with such gentle honesty that the subject to reveals itself to our eyes without destroying its integrity. Girl went on to win the Cannes Camera d’Or in Un Certain Regard in 2018. It also won Cannes’ Fipresci Prize and Un Certain Regard’s Best Actor award for Victor Polster as well as the Queer Palm.

Dhont is quoted as saying, “There are definitely echoes of Girl in Close, recurring themes, especially the violence involved in conforming to a certain norm, not being able to be oneself, being subjected to a certain vision of masculinity, and not being able to assert our fragility…I also wanted to talk about brutality. How it can wipe out such fragile, tender things, both in the world but also inside of us; how we cut flowers, how colours disappear, inside of us.” (Cineuropa.org)

Tangential to this blog, but relevent to the 2023 Oscar contenders, this dancer, in Girl, a female, could easily have been the male ballet dancer we meet in the Norwegian Oscar contender War Sailor. I will write more about that other tipped for the top film, but here I want to point out that both ballet dancers are confronted with the ignorance of others and are handled by their respective directors in a fashion that gives us a feeling of completion and satisfaction.

The screenplays for both were cowritten with Angelo Tijssens. “The film says a lot, but in few words; it’s more about gestures, looks and silences.

I find it’s a really complicated thing, writing dialogue! We try just as hard to convey what the character wants to say as what the viewer needs to understand. As a teen, I was pretty good at mime! I copied others’ movements and behaviours. I get a lot of inspiration from dance and the work of choreographers and dancers, who manage to express their emotions through their bodies and their movements. I decided very quickly that this was the language I wanted to use to launch myself into film: body language. Before wanting to become a director, I wanted to be a dancer. I feel like I’m trying to make some of this dancing dream come true through my cinematic language. Expressing what I want to express, without words.” (Cineuropa.org)

The Match Factory previously handled Girl as well as the film Close. During Cannes this year of Close, The Match Factory sold over 100 territories to Close, including North America to A24; Australia/ Nz to Madman; Baltics-a-One; Benelux-Lumiere; Czech Republic and Slovakia-Artcam; Ex-Yugo-mcf; France-Diaphana, Germany and Austria-Pandora; Greece-Ama; Israel-Lev; Italy-Lucky Red and Bim; Netherlands-Cassestte for theatrical, Vedette for TV; Poland-New Horizons; Romania-Bad Unicorn; Scandinavia-Future; So. Korea-Challan; Spain-Vertigo; Switzerland-Filmcoopi; Taiwan-Filmware; Thailand-Sahamangkolfilm; Turkey, UK, Ireland, Latam, Turkey, India-mubi.

Producers are Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-producers are France’s Diaphana who is also the French distributor, the Netherlands’ Topkapi Films and Belgium’s Versus Productions.

This’ll get your Spidey-sense a-tingling: A new, live-action series set in the Spider-Man universe is coming to MGM+.

The network formerly known as Epix has ordered to series Silk: Spider Society, TVLine has learned. The Sony Pictures Television show is the first of a “suite of live-action television series based on the Sony Pictures universe of Marvel characters, which includes over 900 characters,” per MGM+.

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