Blog
“Emilia Pérez” Leads with Four Nominations for 37th European Film Awards
Source: VarietyFor most film awards ceremonies, the focus is primarily kept to the nation in which the hosting organization is present. Films made outside that country in are of course acknowledged and nominated from time to time (even winning in several of the...
Paul Morrissey, One of Avant-Garde Cinema’s Most Influential Figures, Passes Away at 86
Source: VarietyIn filmmaking, there are often very specific rules that one follows as they work to create a given work of cinema, those that relate to how a narrative or certain technical aspects are handled. When followed carefully, as the majority of mainstream...
“Memoir of a Snail” Named Best Film at London BFI Film Festival
Animation is sadly dismissed rather frequently by those who see themselves as the highest authorities of the film industry, often (and unfairly) looked down upon as a kids-only form of entertainment and constantly mislabeled as a genre. Despite the immense amount of...
Animation Domination: Five Animated Films Crack Box Office’s Top 10, A Rare Occurrence
Animation is frequently an expensive medium to create with; granted, film in general is typically quite costly, but to make an animated film, one where nearly everything has to be constructed from scratch, it’s far from uncommon for a filmmaker to spend the same...
Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck”: The TIFF People’s Choice Award’s Latest Winner
Source: The Hollywood Reporter“Chariots of Fire” in 1981; “The Big Chill” in 1983; “The Princess Bride” in 1987; “The Fisher King” in 1991; “Life is Beautiful” in 1998; “American Beauty” in 1999; “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in 2000; “Amelie” in 2001; “Slumdog...
James Earl Jones, “Star Wars” and “Lion King” Actor, Passes Away at 93
Source: Deadline For many actors, the opportunity to play one character that will go on to become one of the most iconic figures in all of popular culture is something that they’d most likely take without question, even if they aren’t fully aware that such an outcome...
“Road Diary”, “Relay”, and Other Titles to Anticipate at This Year’s Toronto Film Festival
Source: Rolling Stone With the Telluride Film Festival just recently wrapping up and the Venice International Film Festival nearing its own end, it may seem too soon for some to direct their attention towards yet another high-profile film festival. That doesn’t appear...
Alain Delon, One of France’s Biggest Film Stars, Passes Away at the Age of 88
Source: Deadline Considering just how many world-famous actors have their careers rooted in Hollywood and elsewhere within the United States’ film industry, it can be easy to forget that there are several others who have succeeded in making names for themselves within...
“Deadpool & Wolverine” and “It Ends With Us” – Whose Leads are Married – Top Box Office
Source: USA Today Nobody was expecting “Deadpool & Wolverine”, the latest superhero blockbuster from cinema juggernaut (no X-Men reference intended) Marvel Studios, to give up its spot at the top of the box office charts so easily, especially considering its...
David Lynch Reveals Empysema Diagnosis, May No Longer Direct in Person
Source: Variety At what point does a filmmaker decide they are personally no longer willing to keep making films? For some, there is no point, as they’ll continue to work until the day they day, but for others, there is a desire to bring their career to an end and...
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Earns $211 Million During Record-Breaking Opening Weekend
Source: Variety What was once the most prosperous franchise in all of Hollywood is now… still the most prosperous franchise in all of Hollywood, though as of lately, not all of its releases have been surefire hits. Since its origins in 2008, the Marvel Cinematic...
“Longlegs” Pulls an Upset, Earns Its Distributor Neon Its Biggest Opening Weekend Yet
Source: Gizmodo For most major studios, the most desirable position on the box office charts is the top spot, that which shows that their most recent cinematic release is the most financially lucrative to come out that weekend. An opening at #1 may indicate that the...
After Months of Talks, Paramount Will Merge with Skydance
Source: CNBC Corporate mergers are rarely the type of process that anyone who isn’t a high-ranking company executive eagerly looks forward to, especially when the companies involved are major parts of a prominent industry, but in today’s day and age, they are...
R.I.P. Bud S. Smith, Editor of “The Exorcist”, “Flashdance” and Other Cinematic Classics
Source: Deadline The work of a film editor may not always get the credit that it so often deserves, but without it, the art of cinema as it’s currently known would not exist, let alone be so universally revered. Before the invention of film editing, most filmmakers...
“Inside Out 2” Tops “Dune 2” and Becomes 2024’s Biggest Box Office Draw (So Far)
Source: Variety Throughout most of the first half of 2024, the reigning champion of the box office charts was Warner Bros. and director Denis Villeneuve’s science fiction epic “Dune: Part 2”, the sequel to Villeneuve’s 2021 feature “Dune”. That film proved to be a...
“Wild Robot”, Elton John, and Other Films Announced for TIFF 2024 Line-Up
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Even when a major film festival isn’t set to take place for at least a couple months, it can still find ways to generate hype and get people excited about what they might possibly be able to see at the upcoming event. Frequently, how...
“Antidote”, “Brats”, and Other Films to Look Out for at This Year’s Tribeca Film Festival
Source: Variety In the world of film festivals, there’s never a true end, but rather a continuous transition from one event to another. The Cannes Film Festival, for example, may have come and gone, but now many are turning their attention towards the next few film...
“Anora” Named Latest Palme d’Or Winner at 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Source: Deadline Another Cannes Film Festival has come and gone, and with it, the latest in a long line of films that have been deemed worthy enough of the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor, has been announced. As the curtains began to fall on the latest...
Studio Ghibli, “The Boy and the Heron” Creator, Wins Honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes
Source: Variety There are few international film-going events quite as revered as the Cannes Film Festival, which normally takes place in the French city of Cannes around the month of May, and there are few awards given out at Cannes that are as highly sought after as...
Cannes 2024 Has Commenced. Here are Some Films to Look Out For.
Source: IndieWire Being one of the most highly revered film-going events to be found across the globe, the Cannes Film Festival, which takes place on a yearly basis (usually around the month of May) in the French city of Cannes, will often set a standard as to which...
From Bayona to Labaki, Here are the Jurors for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival
Source: Deadline No film festival can be complete without at least one jury (each of them comprised of a solid handful of people with experience and expertise in the world of cinema) to examine the films being presented to them, discuss the merits of these films with...
“American Fiction”, “The Holdovers” Claim WGA Awards Over a Month After the Oscars
Source: The Hollywood Reporter When the 96th Academy Awards concluded during the evening of March 10th, many believed that the long and laborious award season had finally reached its end. After all, many consider the Oscars to be the most highly anticipated award show...
“Hundreds of Beavers” Generates Hundreds of Laughs from Frida Cinema and Other Theaters
Picture taken live at Frida Cinema The evening of April 8th, 2024 saw dozens of people line up just outside the entrance to the Frida Cinema, a nonprofit independent theater located in the heart of Santa Ana, California. Despite there being so many different people...
George Miller to Receive Career Achievement Award at Upcoming CinemaCon
Source: The Hollywood Reporter For the most part, CinemaCon is a time for studios to look forward to the future and make a big spectacle out of all the major releases they have prepared for the upcoming months. First held in 1975 and referred to as the ShoWest...
American Cinematheque Announces This Is Not a Fiction, a New Documentary Film Festival
Source: Variety The medium of cinema may be an inherently fictional art form, but there are films that come closer to capturing reality than something intentionally designed to be more fictional. This, of course, is the very purpose of the documentary, a non-fictional...
Oscars 2024: “Oppenheimer” Named Best Picture, Wins Six Other Academy Awards
Source: Variety “Memento”; “The Dark Knight”; “Inception”; “Interstellar”; “Dunkirk”; and “Tenet”. All of these films were written and directed by Christopher Nolan, a filmmaker who has been a long revered figure among those who consider themselves admirers of the...
Blockbusters That Win Best Picture? They’re (A Little) More Common Than You Think
Source: IMDb Although anything is possible and there is always room for a potential upset, many would agree that the film most likely to win the Best Picture prize at the upcoming 96th Academy Awards ceremony is Christopher Nolan’s epic biographical drama...
SAG Awards 2024: “Oppenheimer” Wins Top Honors on Its Way to Oscar Glory
Source: The Hollywood ReporterRarely can the exact outcome of an awards ceremony be predicted in its entirety with complete accuracy, as there is always the possibility of a film or individual pulling off an unexpected upset. Still, while this may not be the case, one...
“Oppenheimer” Continues Awards Season Success Streak with Multiple BAFTA Wins
Source: VarietyWith less than a month left until the Academy Awards take place, many are more eager than ever to find out which of the previous year’s nominated features will go on to win the film industry’s most revered prizes, the most prestigious being the award...
Super Bowl Weekend, A Normally Uneventful Time, Sees Record Low at the Box Office
Source: VarietyHistorically, the weekend during which the Super Bowl, the final professional football game of the yearly season, takes place (usually the first or second weekend of February) has rarely been an especially lucrative time period for major film studios....
Highlights of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival
Source: Deadline Award season may still be in full swing as it continues to commemorate the films released throughout the previous year, but that doesn’t mean the film festival circuit has been put to a standstill. In fact, it’s still carrying out business as usual,...
Oscars 2024: “Oppenheimer” Blows Away Competition With 13 Nominations
Source: The Hollywood Reporter For the ninety-sixth time in its decades-long history, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has unveiled its list of nominees for its upcoming Academy Awards ceremony, and to say that reactions following the announcement on...
Critics Choice Awards 2024: “Oppenheimer” Wins Big, Becomes a Best Picture Front-runner
Source: Variety As the yearly film awards season moves along and makes it way towards the Academy Awards, the event often regarded as the climactic culmination of this period, there will usually come a point where one film is determined to be the one that is most...
Golden Globes 2024: “Oppenheimer” Triumphs While “Poor Things” Holds Back “Barbie”
Source: The Hollywood Reporter If there were any awards ceremony that was tailor-made for something like the Barbenheimer phenomenon, it’s easily the Golden Globe Awards. The reason for this: the Golden Globes are among the few organizations that hand out not one, but...
“Zone of Interest” Wins Over Toronto Critics. Is a Best Picture Upset in the Cards?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter What will be named Best Picture at the upcoming Academy Awards? It’s a bit too early to tell at this point, though many have already drawn their attention to the films that seem to have a stronger chance than others. For some, Martin...
“Barbie” Leads with Nine Golden Globe Award Nominations
Source: Deadline Nobody would bat an eye if one were to refer to the upcoming Golden Globe Awards ceremony, currently set to take place on Sunday, January 7th 2024, as an unusual change of pace, even more so than usual given the stigma that has surrounded the event...
Pixar’s “Soul”, “Luca”, and “Turning Red” to Receive (Long Overdue) Theatrical Releases
Source: Variety In a perfect world (or at least one where a major cinematic release could potentially draw in a respectably sized audience), the films created by Pixar Animation Studios (a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company’s film division) and released between...
“Past Lives”, “Anatomy of a Murder” Win Big at 2023 Gotham Awards
Source: Variety With so many films competing for the industry’s various awards over the course of a single yearly season, it can be difficult for smaller, more independently produced works of cinema to stand out among the crowd. Because films that receive the backing...
Out of Clay, Out of Business? Factory Closure Sparks Worries for UK’s Aardman
Source: Gizmodo What has to happen for a studio to no longer be able to make films? Theoretically, anything is possible. Maybe revenue can dwindle to such a low level that it’s no longer profitable to keep the studio up and running. Perhaps a change in leadership can...
SAG-AFTRA Has a New Contract That Can End Strike. Now It Just Needs to Vote on It
Source: CBS News For a brief period, it looked as if the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) would still be unable to settle on a new contract that...
Delays, Delays, and More Delays!! Studios Push Back Films as Actors’ Strike Lingers
Source: Forbes Many of the major Hollywood studios that make up the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP); despite recently agreeing to a contract with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) that allowed its months-long strike to come to an end, no...
Here’s to a Happy Retirement: A Look Back at the Career of Michael Caine
Source: Entertainment Weekly An actor’s retirement may not be nearly as tragic as their passing, but there is nonetheless something sad about hearing that a performer who spent several years of their lifetime bringing to life one iconic character after another has...
WGA Members Approve New Contract, Officially End Months-Long Strike
Source: Deadline In a previous article, it was announced that negotiators for both the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had agreed to a new contract that would finally bring an end to the former’s...
Union Takes (Visual) Effect: Disney VFX Workers to Join IATSE
Source: The Hollywood ReporterThe recently-ended Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike and ongoing Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike would not be possible if not for the fact that these organizations were the...
One Strike Down: WGA and AMPTP Reach “Tentative Agreement” on New Contract
Source: NBC News Throughout the history of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), the labor union representing thousands of film and television writers working in Hollywood and elsewhere within North America, the longest it had ever been on strike was a total of 154...
TIFF 2023: “American Fiction”, “The Boy and the Heron” Win Toronto Festival’s Top Prizes
Source: IndieWire The yearly film festival circuit continues to move along towards the highly anticipated string of awards ceremonies set to begin prior to the year’s conclusion, and it was only just recently that the latest of these festivals, the Toronto...
“Poor Things” Takes the Golden Lion Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival
Source: IndieWire Earlier this year, the Academy Award for Best Picture was given to Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, a film that many would describe as a major break from the norm when it came to most recent Best Picture...
From “Holdovers” to Dorji: A Recap of the 50th Telluride Film Festival
Source: Deadline Compared to larger, more prestigious film festivals like those in Venice or Toronto, the Telluride Film Festival, located in the heart of Telluride, Colorado, may not quite receive the same amount of attention as its international counterparts, but...
Biopics and a “Beast” Among Notable Titles Screening at This Year’s Venice Film Festival
Source: Vulture Under most normal circumstances, a major international film festival is already hardly anything to overlook. Not only can such an event draw attention to an abundance of feature-length and short films made in various locations across the globe, but it...
National Cinema Day Returns: Theaters to Sell $4 Tickets All Day on Sunday, August 27th
Source: Deadline Last year on September 3rd (the Saturday right before Labor Day), theaters across the nation participated in the first National Cinema Day event, an exciting new strategy that those working in the film industry hoped would draw crowds unlike anything...
TIFF 2023: “All the Light We Cannot See”, “Bad Boy” To Premiere with Primetime Lineup
Source: Deadline When people think of film festivals, they tend to think of films that are expected to and will hopefully receive a major release on the big screen. After all, most of the films chosen for a given festival will likely be exhibited in one of the several...
William Friedkin (1935-2023): “Exorcist”, “French Connection” Director Passes at 87
Source: Wikipedia The New Hollywood movement of the 1970s saw the rise of many up-and-coming filmmakers who are nowadays regarded as some of the most influential in the history of cinema. Some of these filmmakers, like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, have...
“Elemental” Still Burning: Presumed Pixar Flop Maintains Strong Legs Throughout the Summer
Source: CNN As anyone familiar with the iconic Aesop fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” can tell you, sometimes slow and steady is what wins the race. In other words, one’s success is not determined entirely by how they perform in the beginning, but how they continue...
“Barbenheimer” Blows Up Box Office, Sets Unprecedented Records
Source: Variety Of all the major Hollywood films to be released in the year 2023, none are as outwardly distinct from one another as Warner Bros. fantasy comedy “Barbie” and Universal’s biographical thriller “Oppenheimer”. The former, directed by Greta Gerwig of “Lady...
Hollywood’s Plan to End WGA Strike: “Let the Writers Go Broke”
Source: Deadline Although a strike can ultimately be of great benefit to a given party in the long run, the period in which the strike takes place is anything but beneficial to either employer or employee. The current Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, for...
“We Are Prepared to Strike”, Over 300 Actors Announce in Letter to SAG-AFTRA Leaders
Source: Deadline June 30th - not merely the final day of the month, but the final day of negotiations that could decide whether or not one of the largest labor unions in all of Hollywood brings all of its work to a halt and sends its thousands of members to the...
From Industry Giants to Indie Creators, Annecy Film Festival Shines Light on Animation’s Best
Source: Variety Since its inception in 1960, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival (sometimes shortened to the Annecy Festival) has been hailed as the animation-focused equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, and that’s not just because it too takes place...
Screen Actors Guild Votes to Authorize Strike, Could Join Writers Guild in the Coming Weeks
Source: ABC News If a vote just barely crosses the 50% threshold needed for approval (or doesn’t cross it at all), one gets the impression that the voters are fairly divided on a given issue. If the majority of these voters make up a percentage of roughly 75%, then...
Cannes 2023: “Anatomy of a Fall”, “The Zone of Interest” Claim Festival’s Biggest Prizes
Source: Variety Yet another Cannes Film Festival has come and gone, and with it, a whole new slew of films revered by those fortunate enough to attend the twelve-day event being honored with at least one of the many prestigious awards that could be handed out by the...
SAG-AFTRA Plans Vote to Authorize Strike: Can Hollywood Handle Twice the Striking?
Source: Variety What could possibly be more frustrating for one of the world’s most prominent filmmaking industries than a strike that forces the majority of its productions to a standstill? How about a second strike that forces even more of its productions to a...
The 2023 Cannes Film Festival Commences. Here are Some Potential Highlights.
Source: IndieWire With the Writers Guild of America going on strike and bringing most, if not all, of the American film industry to a halt, the state of cinema is far from ideal at this moment in time, at least as far as those who have the most to gain from this...
DGA Begins Negotiations as WGA Strike Continues to Linger Over Hollywood
Source: The Hollywood Reporter If there’s one thing that Hollywood dreads more than an industry-wide strike that forces nearly all of its major productions to come to a halt, it’s two industry-wide strikes that force nearly all of its major productions to come to a...
Writers On Strike!!! WGA Officially Declares Strike Against Hollywood Producers
Source: The Guardian After weeks of negotiation and deliberation, it has finally come to this. On Tuesday, May 2nd, the Writers Guild of America (WGA), a labor union consisting of roughly 15,000 film and television writers working throughout the country (about 10,000...
Steven Spielberg Agrees Editing Guns Out of “E.T.” Was “A Mistake”
Source: NBC News When a film is completed and released to the public, that’s usually the end of its production journey. After all, there’s an assumption that a finished film has been made exactly how its creators had intended it to appear. However, there are occasions...
Cannes Critics’ Week Line-Up Revealed: Film Highlights of Upcoming Festival Competition
Source: Deadline Earlier this month, it had been announced that two highly anticipated upcoming cinematic releases - James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” - would be screened at the upcoming Cannes...
WGA Commences Strike Authorization Vote, Raises Possibility of Industry-Wide Shutdown
Source: Deadline The script of a given film or television episode could very well be its most important asset. Without it, a director cannot visualize how a certain scene is supposed to play out. An actor cannot develop a proper understanding of how their character is...
Disney’s “Moana”, Not Even a Decade Old, to Receive Live-Action Remake
Source: Variety “Cinderella”; “The Jungle Book”; “Beauty and the Beast”; “Dumbo”; “Aladdin”; “The Lion King”; “Lady and the Tramp”; “Mulan”; “Pinocchio”; what do all of these films have in common? Not only are they all animated features made by Walt Disney Animation...
“Indiana Jones 5” Set to Premiere at 2023 Cannes Film Festival
Source: Variety The 2022 film awards season may be a thing of the past now that the Academy Awards have come and gone as they do every year (choosing the unexpected breakout “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as its Best Picture recipient), but that doesn’t mean the...
“Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” Banned? Release in Hong Kong Theaters Pulled
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Despite being one of the most financially lucrative theatrical markets in all the world, having skyrocketed in prominence over the past decade, it still remains very difficult for a film made outside the nation of China to get a full...
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Wins Best Picture and Six Other Academy Awards
Source: Variety In any other universe, the idea of a film like Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” being named Best Picture by the Academy Awards, or even winning any other prestigious award of such a caliber, would be almost...
WGA Awards 2023: “Everything”, “Women”, and Union Solidarity are Evening’s Big Winners
Source: Variety In any other situation, the biggest highlight of any given film awards ceremony would be the films and individuals would be the most talked about topic of the evening. After all, that’s why people attend these sorts of events: to honor the cinematic...
“Everything Everywhere…” Dominates PGAs and SAGs. Is the Best Picture Oscar Next?
Source: Deadline Throughout much of the current films awards season, indie distributor A24’s absurdist comedy-drama “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, has been regarded as one the most prominent frontrunners...
BAFTA Awards 2023: “All Quiet on the Western Front” Takes Home Top Prizes
Source: CNN Awards season continues to move along throughout the film industry, and with the Academy Awards just over two weeks away, the level of excitement seems to only grow stronger as the date draws closer. Such excitement has in fact skyrocketed with some of the...
From “Lincoln” to “Nixon”: Our Favorite Films to Watch on Presidents Day
Source: TCM Presidents Day may not get the same degree of esteem as other federal holidays like Memorial Day or Veterans Day - whereas those days are dedicated to people that are almost universally revered, presidents can be a lot more divisive in terms of politics -...
AMC Theatres Will Soon Charge More for Certain Seats. Not Everyone is Happy.
Source: Variety It’s hardly surprising to anyone to say that theaters have been struggling for quite some time and have become increasingly desperate to find new ways to make money. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly made the whole situation worse,...
Despite Controversy, Academy Will Not Retract Andrea Riseborough’s Best Actress Nomination
Source: Vanity Fair Whenever the nominations for the Academy Awards (or any major film award ceremony for that matter) are announced to the public, there’s almost a guarantee that the films and individuals named will lead to some kind of backlash in one way or...
Oscars 2023: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Leads with Eleven Nominations
Source: The New York Times It’s been nearly a century since the Academy Awards were first held and established as perhaps the biggest event of the year for the American film industry. Since its inception in 1927, the Academy Awards (or Oscars as they have become more...
Critics Choice Awards 2023: “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Wins Top Honors
Source: Deadline Compared to the more well-known and prestigious Academy Awards and even the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards are a more recent addition to the vast number of ceremonies that make up the film awards circuit. First established in 1996 and...
Golden Globes 2023: “The Fabelmans”, “The Banshees of Inisherin” Take Top Prizes
Source: Variety This year’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony certainly had a lot to contend with, not just the usual issues that tend to arise when putting together a major event dedicated to honoring the best films and television of the previous year, but also the great...
“Avatar” Underperforms at Chinese Box Office, Falls Victim to Nation’s COVID Spike
Source: The Hollywood Reporter In any other situation, an opening weekend gross of $134 million domestically and $441 million worldwide would be a sure sign of success, especially considering only a small handful of films this year have gotten anywhere near these...
Golden Globes 2022: “The Banshees of Inisherin” Leads with Eight Nominations
Source: NBC News To say that the Golden Globe Awards, one of the most well-known annual awards ceremonies in the entertainment industry, has had difficulty with public relations as of lately would be a bit of an understatement. After a 2020 report from The Los Angeles...
“Aftersun” Dominates British Independent Film Awards with Seven Total Wins
Source: The Hollywood Reporter It was only just recently that the Gotham Independent Film Awards, an event held by the United States-based Gotham Film & Media Institute, took place as it has nearly every year since its existence and awarded a select number of...
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Wins Big at 2022 Gotham Awards
Source: The Hollywood Reporter What most people know as award season may not technically start offering its biggest prizes until around the start of the new year, but that isn’t stopping some organizations from already going ahead and handing out their own accolades....
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” Lands Eight Nominations at Independent Spirit Awards
Source: Variety First founded in 1984, the Independent Spirit Awards have served as a counterpart for the more popular Academy Awards that is dedicated exclusively to films produced independently or with minimal support from the studio system outside of distribution....
Oscar-Submitted “Joyland” Banned in Native Pakistan, Filmmakers to Appeal Decision
Source: Variety Despite the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (previously referred to as Best Foreign Language Film) having existed since 1947 and allowed nations from all across the globe to receive some kind of recognition at a ceremony that is...
Another Strike Looming? WGA Prepares for Contract Negotiations… and the Worst
Source: Deadline There have been few disruptions of the entertainment industry that have been quite as notable as the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike that took place between November 5th, 2007 and February 12th, 2008. During that period of time, the roughly...
“Terrifier 2”: The Unexpected Horror Breakout of Halloween 2022
Source: Variety Halloween has come and gone, and with it, a nationwide trend of celebrating the holiday by watching whatever horror films one can get their hands on. While many of the films watched during the Halloween season are bonafide classics like “The Shining”...
Dracula on the Big Screen: The Cinematic History of Bram Stoker’s Beloved Vampire
Source: Wikipedia As October 31st approaches, and with it the nationally popular holiday Halloween, many are seeking out their favorite works of horror cinema in celebration of this spooky season. Many of these films have long been revered as classic staples of the...
“Corsage” and “All That Breathes” Take Top Prizes at BFI London Film Festival 2022
Source: IndieWire Since its inception in 1957, the BFI London Film Festival, held and organized by the British Film Institute (BFI) and usually taking place during the month of October, has been revered as one of the most prestigious cinematic events in the United...
“Tár” and “Triangle of Sadness” Excel with Limited Arthouse Debuts at the Box Office
Source: Deadline As is often the case at the weekend box office, the results of the revenue earned over this period of time are something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the film that held last weekend’s #1 spot, Paramount’s latest horror “Smile”, held surprisingly...
September 2022: Box Office’s Worst September Since 1996 (Excluding Pandemic Closure)
Source: The Hollywood Reporter For some people, complaining about an underwhelming September box office is hardly any different than complaining about a cheap hamburger purchased from a local fast food restaurant. Sure, one would hope for something more satisfactory,...
Tom Hanks Claims to Have Made “Only” Four Good Films. Which Ones Could They Be?
Source: VarietyThere are few actors working in the modern-day film industry that have maintained such a favorable reputation over the course of several decades quite like Tom Hanks, to a point where many have begun to refer to him as this generation’s Jimmy Stewart...
TIFF 2022: Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” Wins Big, Becomes Best Picture Frontrunner
Source: Variety Steven Spielberg is without a doubt one of the few directors working in the film industry whose name has become just as big of a brand as any current blockbuster franchise, and for good reason. Many of the most popular films ever made have been...
R.I.P. Jean-Luc Godard (1930-2022), Icon of the French New Wave of Cinema
Source: Deadline The American film industry has produced many world-renowned directors, with such names as Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese being among the best known, but if one were to look outside Hollywood, one would be able to find several different directors...
National Cinema Day Was a Rousing Success: “Top Gun: Maverick” the Most Attended Film
Source: The Hollywood Reporter If the intention of National Cinema Day, a special event held by the National Association of Theater Owners’ nonprofit branch The Cinema Foundation, was to get as many people into the seats of their local cineplex as possible, then it’s...
September 3rd is National Cinema Day. Is This the Start of a New Tradition for Theaters?
Source: CNBC Labor Day weekend, often hailed by many in the film industry as the end of the summer season, does not usually see much of a turnout, at least not compared to earlier in the summer. One would think this period of time would be a last hoorah for the past...
“Jaws”, “E.T.”, and the Return of the Theatrical Re-Release
Image source: Buzz.tt In an age where films are more accessible to watch within the comfort of one’s home, one might wonder why somebody would bother seeing a film that isn’t a new release in theaters. After all, the price of a single ticket - in other words, a single...
Less Batgirl, More Merging… What’s Going on at Warner Bros. Discover?
Source: The Guardian In today’s day and age, it’s hardly surprising to hear that a major corporation is being purchased by another, resulting in an even bigger conglomerate that brings the industry as a whole one step closer towards monopoly. That exact situation has...
“Causeway”, “The Fabelmans” Among Films to Be Screened at 2022 Toronto Film Festival
Source: Deadline Though the North American continent has been home for quite a few major film festivals over the past several decades, there are few that are as popular and revered as the Toronto International Film Festival. Taking place in the city of Toronto, the...
“White Noise” Announced as Opening Film of 2022 Venice Film Festival
Source: Variety When it comes to major film festivals that take place in Europe, there are a small handful that are considered to be the most prestigious of them all. These three European film festivals, collectively known as the Big Three, are the Cannes Film...
Iranian Filmmaker Jafar Panahi to Serve Six Years in Prison
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Whenever a well-known celebrity or industry figure is arrested and later convicted of a crime, one would expect said crime to be something of an abhorrent nature. For example, Harvey Weinstein, once one of the most prominent studio...
“Minions” Top Fourth of July Box Office, Signal Big Comeback for Family Films
Source: Box Office Mojo Films aimed at family audiences tend to be among those that are most popular at the box office - or at least they have been for the past few decades - and it’s not hard to understand why. Few children are old enough to attend their local...
“Marcel the Shell” Earns Weekend’s Top Box Office PSA: Another Breakout Hit for A24?
Source: Deadline To call the most recent weekend at the box office an interesting might be considered by some to be something of an understatement. For one thing, two films are currently vying for the #1 spot, with Warner Brothers’ music biopic “Elvis”, which first...
John McTiernan, “Jurassic World” to Be Included in Upcoming London Action Festival
Source: Variety The action genre has a somewhat contradictory status in the world of cinema in that it’s simultaneously one of the most popular film genres (if not THE most popular film genre) in terms of box office performance, yet one of the least recognized when it...
“Lightyear” Banned In Saudi Arabia, Others Due to LGBTQ+ Content
Source: Deadline Disney and Pixar’s most recent animated feature “Lightyear”, inspired by the character Buzz Lightyear from their flagship “Toy Story” franchise, is being seen by many as a return to form for the studio that produced the likes of “Finding Nemo” and...
“Morbius” Re-Release Bombs, Proving that Social Media Does Not Reflect General Public
Source: Gizmodo If one is both a fan of cinema and frequent user of social media, then there is a very strong chance that they follow a wide variety of people and websites that directly relate to this passion for film. When using such platforms as Twitter or TikTok,...
“Triangle of Sadness”, Park Chan-wook Among Big Winners at 2022 Cannes Film Festival
Source: CNN This year’s Cannes Film Festival, held between May 17th and May 28th, marked the seventy-fifth year in a row in which the world-renowned event took place, and the timing could not be more perfect for the festival to make a big comeback. Due to restrictions...
“Everything Everywhere All at Once”: An Indie Breakout Holding Strong at the Box Office
Source: Deadline If one were to look at the most recent totals of the weekend box office, they will most likely be unsurprised by the film currently sitting in the top spot: Marvel’s most recent superhero blockbuster “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”....
Cannes Film Festival 2022 Kicks Off With a Handful of Exciting Films
Source: IndieWire It may have been a couple years since the Cannes Film Festival has appeared to be anything resembling “normal”, but one can hardly tell considering how much buzz and anticipation has surrounded this year’s festival. Starting Tuesday, May 17th and...
Fantasia International Film Festival Set for Big Comeback This Summer
Source: The Hollywood Reporter When people think of film festivals, they usually think of films created and marketed in a way that gives them an appearance of prestige. These are the kinds of films in which many distributors and filmmakers find the potential to...
Jeonju 2022: South Korean Festival Gives “Geographies of Solitude” Its Top Prize
Source: Variety When people think of major international film festivals, the ones that usually come to mind are those that take place in the Western world. These include those that take place in North America, such as the Sundance and Toronto International Film...
Studios Set for a Spectacular Summer as CinemaCon Starts
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Compared to more fan-oriented events like the San Diego Comic-Con or Disney’s D23 Expo, the annual CinemaCon, which normally takes place in Las Vegas, most likely isn’t the type of thing that most general cinephiles are going to go out...
“Corner Office”, “Somewhere In Queens” Among Others Included in Tribeca 2022 Lineup
Source: Deadline Once again, the beginning of the annual film festival circuit is right around the corner. Granted, one could argue that the festival season technically began with the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, but it won’t be until a little later in...
“Nimona” Finds New Life: Canceled Animated Film Revived by Netflix and Annapurna
Source: The Hollywood Reporter In an act that many consider to be one of the biggest blows to the animation industry in recent memory, the Walt Disney Company shut down Blue Sky Studios, the studio behind such films as the “Ice Age” series and “The Peanuts Movie”, in...
Vancouver on Strike? Canadian Directors Guild Struggles to Reach Agreement with AMPTP
Source: Deadline It was not too long ago that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) faced the possibility of a strike that could shut down a significant percentage of film and television productions throughout North America. Just before the...
“CODA”, “Dune” Shine as the Big Winners at This Year’s Oscars
Source: PBS If nothing else, the 94th Academy Awards had its fair share of surprises that many did not see coming, though not necessarily the most desirable of surprises. For example, the show’s attempt to create an audience favorite award (one decided by the general...
“CODA” Wins Big at the PGAs and WGAs. Can It Pull Off a Best Picture Upset?
Source: Deadline For the longest time - more specifically, these past couple months - it looked like Jane Campion’s Western drama “The Power of the Dog” would be without question the big winner at this year’s upcoming Academy Awards. Its fortunes kicked off with a win...
Annies, BAFTAs, Critics, and DGAs: A Recap of Recent Awards Shows
Source: CNN With the Academy Awards only weeks away, it shouldn’t be any surprise that there are also several other awards shows taking place beforehand that many are hoping will give some greater insight as to how the Oscars will play out. However, it was just...
The Oscars Telecast is Cutting Awards. Steven Spielberg (Among Others) Is Not Happy
Source: Deadline The Academy Awards are seen by many as the highlight event of the year for the film industry, aired on television each year for millions to watch and find out which films and individuals are named the best of the best for that specific year. One might...
SAG Awards 2022: “CODA” Stands as Big Winner, Actors Predicted for Oscar Success
Source: USA Today With a more specific focus (and therefore viewer award count) than the likes of the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards may not seem like the type of ceremony to be worthy of major media attention. However, its airing...
Francis Ford Copolla to Pay for His Next Movie Out of His Pocket. The Price: $120 Million
Source: Variety Ask any filmmaker what the biggest challenge in getting a movie made is, and there’s a very good chance the answer will be the struggle to maintain both creative and financial control. Having both is rarely an achievable feat, and often one will have...
Academy Awards to Allow Twitter Users to Vote on Their Own “Best Picture” of 2021
Source: Variety If there is one complaint that has been repeatedly thrown at the Academy Awards (as well as other film awards ceremonies that attempt to have that same level of high status) in recent memory, it’s that the films selected are not those that the general...
Nominees for 2022 Oscars Announced: Multiple International Films Among Them
Source: IndieWire The Academy Awards, easily the biggest annual celebration of the art of cinema known throughout the world, was once referred to by South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, whose works include “Memories of Murder” and “Okja”, as a “very local” event. This...
“Nanny”, “Navalny” Among Big Winners at 2022 Sundance Film Festival
Source: Sundance Film Festival The awards season for the films of 2021 may not have reached its end as of yet - in fact, at the time of this writing, this year’s Academy Award nominations have yet to be announced - but that doesn’t mean people aren’t already looking...
SAG Award 2022 Nominees: “House of Gucci”, “The Power of the Dog” Among the Contenders
Source: Variety The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards are certainly a unique situation when it comes to its status in the film awards season landscape. On the one hand, although not as revered as the Academy Awards, this awards ceremony, held by and honoring members of...
Golden Globes 2022 Take Place, Hand Out Awards – Even With No Audience to Watch
Source: Variety If one were to be completely unaware that the most recent Golden Globe Awards ceremony recently took place, they may not be entirely to blame, as there were no publicly accessible ways in which one could do so. As a result of a series of controversies...
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” to Close Out 2021 with a Gross of Over $1.5 Billion
Source: Deadline As the saying goes, if one is to go out, then it is better to do so not with a whimper, but with a bang. That certainly seems to be the mentality for the worldwide box office this year; despite having to slowly recover from the closure of nearly every...
Saudi Arabia, Other Nations Ban “West Side Story” for Transgender Character
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Since its world premiere before the end of November, Steven Spielberg’s cinematic adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical “West Side Story” has received a significant amount of press and attention, most of it showering the film with...
How Can Theaters Attract Bigger Audiences? New Study Provides Possible Answers
Source: Variety In many respects, the month of December, the one to close out the year 2021, should be a time of great celebration for the film industry, especially for the hundreds of movie theaters that will be operating during this time. This final month of the...
Disney and HBO to Share Streaming Rights to 20th Century Studio Films for One More Year
Source: Variety When the Walt Disney Company, whose film assets include Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, and Marvel Studios among others, completed its acquisition of major film studio 20th Century Fox (soon renamed 20th Century Studios), many had anticipated that the...
IATSE (Barely) Ratifies New Contract, Averting Industry Strike and Shutdown
Source: The Los Angeles Times It was just over a month ago that the film and television industry faced the threat of being shut down entirely. Such a threat was the result of stressful negotiations over a contract between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television...
“Eternals” Banned in Some Countries Over Same-Sex Kiss, Cast Speaks Out
Source: NBC News On Friday, November 5th, “Eternals”, the latest film in the long-running and highly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, was released to theaters in the United States and throughout many overseas markets. Although critical reception for the Chloe Zhao...
October 2021: The Best Month of the Pandemic for the Box Office (So Far)
Source: CNBC Over the past couple years, the month of October has started to go from one of the less lucrative times of the year for the domestic film industry to a time where the most unlikely of films can break out and earn big bucks. The month has historically been...
A Feast of Foreign Frights: Horror Films from Around the World
Source: IMDb The Halloween season is here at last, and that can mean any number of things for those celebrating this time of year. Parties, trick-or-treating, and carving jack-o-lanterns are all commonplace traditions for people getting into the Halloween spirit, but...
Deal Reached Between IATSE and AMPTP, But Rejection by Union Members Possible
Source: Slashfilm Had things taken a turn for the worse on Monday, October 18th at 12:01 in the morning, the entirety of the nation’s film and television industry could have been completely shut down. That would have been the moment that the International Association...
International Cinematographers Guild Votes To Encourage Nationwide Strike
Source: Deadline The art of filmmaking is rarely, if ever, a one-person effort, and most productions require a substantial number of people in order to be completed. Of course, actors, directors, and producers are among the more noteworthy individuals to be associated...
Toronto International Film Festival 2021 Sees Big Wins for “Belfast”, “The Power of the Dog”
Source: Deadline The 2021 Venice Film Festival hadn’t even finished wrapping up before the next in a long line of prestigious, closely-paid-attention-to film festivals commenced. On September 9th, just a few days prior to the ending of the Venice event, the Toronto...
Venice Film Festival 2021: “L’Événement”, “Hand of God” Among the Big Winners
Source: Deadline Although many would consider the summer movie season to have concluded by now, that doesn’t mean it’s no longer a time for the art of cinema to flourish. Nowhere is this more evident than in the film festival scene, in which several major events are...
“Shang-Chi” Overcomes Delta Concerns to Shatter Labor Day Box Office Records
Source: Variety Of all the times to expect a major blockbuster to break out and make big bucks at the box office, Labor Day weekend has historically not been one of them. Widely considered to be the end of the summer box office season, the first weekend of September...
Filmmakers from Afghanistan to Speak at the Venice Film Festival
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Although the primary objective of most film festivals is for the viewing of the cinematic works chosen to be included, such events can also hold a number of panels and discussions in which filmmakers are allowed to speak about their...
“Reminiscence” Underperformance Shows How Even Smaller Films are Struggling Right Now
Much has been made about how many of the most recent blockbuster films being released at the moment are not doing as well as the studios that made them would have liked. At best, there are films like “Black Widow” which earn solid opening weekends but struggle to keep...
From Pushbacks to Vaccine Cards, Film Industry Prepares for Another COVID Fall
Source: The Hollywood Reporter As much as the film industry (if not everybody else living in the nation) would like to think otherwise, the COVID-19 pandemic that had begun its wrath on the world last year is not over yet. Despite the availability of vaccines...
“The Suicide Squad” Underperformance: An Industry Reminder of an Ongoing Pandemic
Source: Deadline When the summer of 2021 began, many people working in the film industry were optimistic that after over a year of being all but completely shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people would come out in droves to the movies once it was safe to do so....
Scarlett Johansson vs Disney: The Lawsuit That Could Change the Film Industry
Source: CNN/Gizmodo Throughout the most recent decades of cinematic history, how a particular individual receives compensation for their work on a film has remained relatively consistent. While it is far from uncommon for an actor, director, or any other major talent...
Venice Film Festival Announces 2021 Lineup, Films from Nearly 60 Countries Included
Source: Deadline It was not too long ago when the Cannes Film Festival, highly regarded as one of the most prominent events in the world of cinema, concluded for the year after the previous year’s event had to be cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Taking...
Cannes Film Festival Makes Comeback, Concludes with Great Success
Source: The New York Times The 2021 Cannes Film Festival seemed to have a lot more on its shoulders than previous festivals, in large part due to how much lost ground it has had to make up for. After the 2020 festival had to be cancelled as a result of the ongoing...
“Black Widow” Excels at Weekend Box Office, and Also on Streaming
Source: Box Office MojoTo say that “Black Widow” would do well at the box office would come as a shock to anybody at least somewhat familiar with the current cinematic landscape. The most recent installment of the insanely lucrative Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Black...
Quentin Tarantino Purchases Vista Theater, An Historic Los Angeles Venue
Source: VarietyTo say that filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is something of a controversial figure in Hollywood would likely be a bit of an understatement, especially when taking recent events surrounding the figure into consideration. On the one hand, Tarantino has more...
“F9” Enters United States Theaters, Brings Industry One Step Closer to a Comeback
Source: Box Office MojoRecovering from a global pandemic is rarely an easy task, especially when an industry is as big as the business of theatrically released films, but that has not stopped Hollywood from attempting such a comeback. Throughout 2021, less than a year...
Amblin Going to Streaming: Steven Spielberg and Netflix Join Forces
Source: DeadlineEven for those who aren’t as interested and knowledgeable of the film industry and the various individuals that are a part of it, there’s little chance that the name Steven Spielberg won’t immediately be recognizable. Considered by many to be one of...
The Finest Fathers of Film: A Look at Our Favorite Cinematic Dads
Source: Facebook Sunday, June 20th will mark the 111st celebration of the holiday known throughout the nation as Father’s Day. From its first commemoration back in the year 1910, Father’s Day has come each and every third Sunday of June and allowed people all over the...
Cannes Film Festival Set to Return With an Impressive Cinematic Line-Up
Source: VarietyThe upcoming Cannes Film Festival, generally revered as one of the most prestigious festivals of international film festivals, may be happening a bit later in the year in comparison to previous festivals, set to take place between July 6th and July 17th...
Box Office Passes $100 Million Total Gross Over Holiday Weekend, First Time in Months
Source: Box Office Mojo Although Memorial Day weekend has long been revered as a crucial period of the year when it comes to the film industry and its anticipation of abundant box office revenue, this most recent one might have been the most important in years. With a...
Warner Media and Discovery Agree to Combine, the Latest of Entertainment Company Mergers
Source: Deadline Throughout the past couple decades, buyouts and mergers of major entertainment corporations have become increasingly common, resulting in many of the world’s biggest media empires growing even larger than they previously were. The early 2010s saw...
“F9” Scores Biggest Opening Weekend of Pandemic, Signals Comeback of Theaters
Source: IndieWireThroughout the past couple decades, the Memorial Day weekend, often occurring at the very end of May, has been viewed as one of the most important times of the year for the world of big-budget filmmaking. As this time is generally seen as the...
Amazon Makes Bid to Purchase MGM: Is Another Big Merger On the Horizon?
Source: VarietyAlthough the name may not stand out nearly as much as the likes of Disney or Warner Brothers, there was a time when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (often referred to as just MGM) was one of the crowning jewels of the Hollywood film scene. Having produced...
NBC Drops 2022 Golden Globes: Is the End of an Awards Giant Near?
Source: VarietyEven before the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout the globe and took a major toll on the film industry, the relevance of the televised awards show has long become increasingly questionable. What were once major ratings draws, garnering tens of...
“Demon Slayer” Tops the American Box Office, A Rare Feat for a Foreign Film
Source: Box Office Mojo In a world that appears to be becoming increasingly globalized, one would like to think that a film made outside North America would be able to reign over all other films currently in theaters at the time of its release, at least no less easily...
93rd Academy Awards Recap: And the Oscar Goes To…
Source: The RingerThere’s a certain irony in how unsurprising it has become for the Academy Awards to throw in a handful of new surprises, both intentionally and unintentionally, with each most recent awards ceremony. Going into this year’s ceremony, there was already...
Tribeca Announces 2021 Film Festival Lineup, Sets Expectations High
Source: Deadline Even before announcing its cinematic lineup for its most recent event, organizers of the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival had already promised a festival unlike anything attempted in the past. With the COVID-19 pandemic still lingering throughout most of...
Academy Awards 2021: The Nominees for Best International Feature Film
Source: Variety When the Korean film “Parasite” won Best Picture at the previous Academy Awards ceremony, many had hoped that its success would lead to a greater presence of international features among the various categories. While this doesn’t appear to be the case...
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2021: Will Oscars Repeat These Results?
Source: Entertainment WeeklyOf the many organizations that hand out awards for the best of the previous year’s cinema, the Oscars and the Golden Globes tend to get the most attention, as the awards they give tend to cover a wide array of categories. Many...
Tribeca Announces Return to In-Person Events for 2021 Festival
Source: VarietyWith the awards circuit for the previous year still having not yet completed (though with the Academy Awards less than a month away, the end is near), it may seem a bit early to some to kick off the various major film festivals that frequently introduce...
2021 Oscar Nominations Announced: And the Nominees Are…
Source: Variety On April 25th, 2021, the 93rd Academy Awards will finally be held after being pushed back by a couple months from its original date. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a majority of film releases to either be postponed or released through streaming,...
Writers Guild of America Hands Out Awards, Predicts Possible Oscar Winners
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Although such ceremonies as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes tend to receive the most attention during the annual awards season, they are far from the only ceremonies held to honor the many cinematic accomplishments of the...
Luckier Finds Than Leprechauns: Highlights of Irish Independent Cinema
On the Set: Red Roses & Petrol - Susan Lynch, Greg Ellis, Olivia Tracey, Malcolm McDowell, Heather Juergensen, Max Beesley As we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day across the nation several forms of activity are expected from those taking part in the holiday: wearing...
American Box Office on the Verge of Recovery, But Challenges Still Remain
Source: The Hollywood ReporterThe recent reopening of New York City’s movie theaters last weekend has been seen by many as a major win for the film industry. After being closed for nearly a year when the COVID-19 pandemic began to sweep the nation, the city finally...
New York City Allows Movie Theaters to Reopen: Is the End Near?
Source: The Hollywood ReporterAs the city with the nation’s largest population, New York City has become a prominent sign of where the nation as a whole currently is in the midst of a global pandemic. Since the Coronavirus first broke out in the city, as well as the...
Seizing Golden Opportunities: History Made at the Golden Globes
Source: The Guardian The most recent Golden Globes ceremony, held on Sunday, February 28th, was already destined to be an awards show unlike any held in the past. Much of this is the result of the ongoing COVID-19, which not forced the Hollywood Foreign Press...
Lunar New Year Celebration Sees Box Office Resurgence in China
Source: The Hollywood Reporter Looking back on the Lunar New Year of the year 2020, one can’t help but wonder just how prosperous the box office of China could’ve been. Considered by many to be one of the most cherished times of the year for most Chinese citizens...
Going for the Gold: Highlights of the Golden Globe Nominations
Source: The Los Angeles Times When it comes to the award season celebrating the films of 2020, to quote a familiar saying, it’s better late than never. Despite a significant shortage of films as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there was still just enough...
Apple Breaks Records with $25 Million Purchase at Sundance
Source: Deadline The 2021 Sundance Film Festival has been quite an interesting experience to say the least, one very different from those in previous years. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic making it impossible to hold the festival in its traditional format while...
AFI’s List of The Best Films of Last Year
Source: Sundance The COVID-19 pandemic may have caused extensive delays in the film industry, but that doesn’t mean plans have been outright canceled. With the year 2020 having finally come to a close, the time has come to look back and determine which films - or what...
More Than Just Netflix: Our Favorite Streaming Services for Independent Films
Source: Fandor On March 4th, 2021, the CBS All Access streaming service will rebrand itself as Paramount+, reflecting the recent merger of Viacom, the company that owns major motion picture studio Paramount, and CBS, one of the three original television networks....
Still No End in Sight: Studios Once Again Pushing Back Blockbusters
Source: Variety The beginning of a new year should be a moment of hope and optimism, especially when a year as despised as 2020 comes to an end. Indeed, with the arrival of 2021, one would like to think that there would be a change of pace in regards to the ongoing...
“Wonder Woman 1984” vs. “Soul”: Streaming Battle.
Source: Entertainment Weekly In a world where a deadly pandemic did not grip the world and force much of its businesses and practices to a standstill, both the Warner Brothers superhero movie “Wonder Woman 1984” and the animated Disney/Pixar family film “Soul”...
Joy to the World: Christmas Films from Across the Globe
Source: Mubi Christmas time is here again, and for many people who celebrate the holiday, it’s tradition for families to gather together and watch one of their favorite Christmas movies. Some of these films have been long-time favorites, like “It’s a Wonderful Life”...
Sundance Announces Lineup, Hybrid Exhibition for 2021 Film Festival
Arthur Mola/Invision/AP Although the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a major challenge for the film festival circuit in 2020, it was not enough to prevent some of the industry’s biggest events from occurring, albeit with some significant changes. Employing such...
Warner Brothers to Release All 2021 Films in Theaters and on Streaming at the Same Time
Source: The Hollywood Reporter In November of this year, major motion picture studio announced that it will release its upcoming DC superhero film “Wonder Woman 1984” simultaneously in theaters and on its streaming platform HBO Max. The announcement came as a result...
Feast Your Eyes on Our Favorite (Uncomfortable) Family Dinner Scenes in Film
Thanksgiving has come and gone and the holiday season has just begun once again, and it is a time for people to come together and peacefully share wholesome and fulfilling time and many meals with their closest relatives. In theory, it sounds like a good plan; in...
Movie Theaters Seek Bailout, Turn to Government for Survival
Photo Credit: wusa9.com Movie theaters have done just about everything to stay in business. They’ve reduced concession prices. They’ve brought back classic films that one might want to experience on the big screen for the first or thirtieth time. They’ve adopted any...
Classic Films Light Up Big Screens as Hollywood Holds Back New Releases
Movie theaters in the United States have a major problem: they’re open for business but have little to drive said business. With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic keeping movie studios from releasing their highly anticipated productions in theaters, there’s hardly...
Reel to the Chief: Our Favorite Fictional Film Presidents
The time has come once again for residents of the United States of America to cast their votes and decide who will either be elected or re-elected for a variety of government positions, the most notable being the nation’s highest authority, the President of the United...
It’s a Scary World After All: Halloween Films from Across the Globe
The Halloween season has come once again, and a common tradition for many people during this time of the year is to sit back and watch one of their favorite horror or Halloween themed movies. There are far too many of these films to count, ranging from older favorites...
From Toronto to Venice: How These Film Festivals Differ in a COVID World
Thamela Mpumlwana, Donisha Prendergast and Charles Officer attend the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival screening of 'Akilla's Escape' at West Island Open Air Cinema at Ontario Place on September 12, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario. (Sept. 11, 2020 - Source: Getty...
Regal Theaters Close Once Again: Will Other Chains Follow?
Image Source: Tulsaworld.com The lack of major theatrical film releases in the United States, brought upon by most of the studios delaying their films due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has taken an alarming toll on the movie theater industry. While Christopher...
“Tenet” and the Box Office: Have Movie Theaters Reopened Too Early?
Image source: Wall Street Journal When Christopher Nolan’s multi-million dollar thriller “Tenet” opened in movie theaters throughout the United States on Labor Day weekend, many hoped that the film would be a sign that the film industry was ready to bounce back after...
No More Gender Separation at the Berlin International Film Festival
Source: https://www.berlinale.de/en/das_festival/festivalprofil/profil_der_berlinale/index.html The COVID-19 pandemic may still retain an ongoing presence throughout the globe, but that hasn’t stopped the international film scene from attempting a return to normality....
The “Mulan”/Xinjiang Controversy: A Hindrance to International Coproductions?
This photo taken on February 16, 2020 shows two workers wearing face masks manning a promotional stand for the Disney movie 'Mulan' in an almost empty shopping mall in Beijing. ( AFP/GREG BAKER) In an increasingly globalized world, several nations now more than ever...
The Venice Film Festival Begins, Kicks Off a Post(?)-Coronavirus Awards Season
Blanchett, middle, with fellow jury members Nicola Lagioia, Joanna Hogg, Veronika Franz, Matt Dillon, Ludivine Sagnier and Christian Petzold. Photograph: Yara Nardi/Reuters Although the COVID-19 pandemic continues throughout the United States, the rest of the world...
Movie Theaters are Starting to Reopen…maybe.
AP Photo/Michel Euler Just about five months ago, when the United States officially recognized the COVID-19 pandemic as a major threat, a majority of businesses were forced to close their doors in order to reduce the spread of disease. There was no more prominent...
What Was “United States v. Paramount”? And Why Might It May No Longer Matter?
It’s easy to blame the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic for the many issues currently happening throughout the film industry. Indeed, the pandemic has been responsible for quite a number of unfortunate events: the closure of most of America’s movie theaters, the delay of...
“Mulan” Forgoes the Theatrical Experience: Is the End Near?
Photo by micechat.comIf there’s one company that the expression “the bigger they are, the harder they fall” could easily apply to, it’s the Walt Disney Company. With a wide variety of media under its ownership, ranging from films to theme parks, the company has more...
Seventeen Days: The New Minimum for Universal Movies and AMC Theaters
Photo by: rttnew.com Earlier this year, an unusual conflict broke out between the major film studio Universal Pictures and prominent theater chain AMC. When Universal’s animated film “Trolls: World Tour”, originally intended to be released in theaters in April of this...
California vs the Movies: How Re-Closings Affect Film Industry
A sign outside of the Stanford Theatre announced its temporary closure in downtown Palo Alto on March 4, 2020. Photo by Nhat V. Meyer, Bay Area News Group Last week, the state of New Jersey became the subject to a lawsuit from the major movie theater chains AMC,...
Celebrating Pride Month
It’s the month of June, which means Pride Month has come yet again. With much of the LGBTQ community using this month to celebrate their accomplishments and push for further progress in a large number of LGBTQ issues, it’s a common practice for many to seek out media...
Top Dance Documentaries to Watch Right Now
Imagine scrolling down your social media timeline, bored out of your mind, and then you come across a dance video that is hard to resist. You sit there looking at the clip for several minutes, and it lightens up your mood. Why is dance so appealing that it is hard for...
More Than Just Wuxia and Anime: A Look at Lesser Known Asian Cinema
To say that films from Asia are taking the world by storm would be a massive understatement, especially given how many countries and cultures are found in the largest continent on Earth. Of course, Japan has been producing iconic anime for decades now, and China’s...
New Academy Awards Changes: Couldn’t Get Into Theaters? No Problem
Throughout most of the history of the Academy Awards, films that could qualify for a potential nomination have had to meet specific requirements. Among the most significant is the rule regarding theatrical release; according to Academy rules, a film could only be...
Tribeca Goes for a Drive-In, Plans to Show Films Across the Country
The drive-in movie theater, a venue in which people watch big-screen films from the comfort of their cars, has gained a minor resurgence over the past few months after years of declining popularity. With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping most traditional theaters closed...
Top Mother/Son Relationships on Film
In the month of May, we celebrate and honor the women who carry the burden of bringing a human being into this world. Most of these women nurture, protect, and most importantly love their children with unconditional devotion. For a man, his first love is his mother...
Universal vs. the Theaters: How One Film May Change Cinema Forever
Image from Indiwire.com When “Trolls: World Tour”, the sequel to the popular 2016 animated film, was announced, nobody expected much to come of it. It would attract families to theaters, sell a decent amount of merchandise, and play out more or less like any other...
Cinemark’s Reopening Plan: Are Classics the Key to Success?
With most of the world shut down as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, many businesses are struggling with the difficulty in deciding not only when to reopen, but how to reopen. Movie theaters are no exception; while many major chains do plan on starting back...
A Possible AMC Bankruptcy? What This Could Mean for the Future of Cinema
If one wanted to catch up on the latest big-screen endeavor at their local cineplex, then there’s a good chance that the theater they go to is owned by AMC Theaters. Founded in 1920, AMC currently operates at over a thousand locations with over 11,000 screens among...
Drive-In Theaters: The Oases of a Cinematic Desert Struck by Disease
For months now, the COVID-19 pandemic, more commonly known as the Coronavirus, has laid waste to the world, forcing people to confine themselves to their homes in order to reduce the spread of the disease. Naturally, this comes at a great cost to many major...
The Beauty of Motion: A Look at Some of Our Favorite Cinematic Dances
Photo credit: NPR, Niko Tavernise/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Later this year, World Wide Motion Pictures will release the documentary “Dancers (Danzantes)” for people around the world to experience. Directed by Spanish director Juan Vicente Chuliá, this film...
Who is the MPAA? How Every American Film Release Relies on the Judgment of Nine People
When looking at the various ratings given to films released in the United States by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), it can be quite perplexing as to how a film is rated and why, especially when it comes to films given different ratings despite being...
Coronavirus Continues Its Conquest on Cinema
If the previous weeks were a sign that the COVID-19, more commonly known as the Coronavirus, was here to stay for a while and take its toll on the world at large, then this most recent week has only made the threat of the virus all the more apparent. Multiple...
So Much for SXSW: How the Coronavirus Is Affecting Cinema
image from Techcrunch.com Last month, Hollywood found itself in a state like nothing they’ve experienced before when “Parasite”, a South Korean film from director Bong Joon-ho, infected the award season to become the first foreign language film to win the Oscar for...
Dubbing vs. Subtitles: Which is Better for Film Watching?
As the first film made outside the United States and the English language to receive the highly coveted Academy Award for Best Picture, Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” has sparked an interest in foreign films that had not been seen often in the years prior, with more and...
All You Need is Love: Underrated LGBTQ Romances in Cinema
Valentine’s Day has long been a holiday associated with romance, and often people will choose to celebrate the holiday by watching a film centered around a romantic couple. However, while heterosexual pairings remain a staple of Hollywood storytelling from its very...
Breaking the Color Barrier: A Look at the Finest of Black Independent Cinema
February 2020 has come at last, and with it comes an abundance of holidays: Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, and even a holiday dedicated to a furry brown rodent that made a movie with Bill Murray. Going on throughout the entire month, however, is something arguably...
“Parasite”: From Unexpected Cannes Breakout to Best Picture of 2019
Writer-director Bong Joon-ho celebrates four wins for Parasite, including Best Picture, at the 92nd Annual Academy Awards. (Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic) The story of Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 film “Parasite” revolves around the lower class Kim family in their efforts to lift...
With Best Original Screenplay Wins at BAFTA and WGA, “Parasite” Inches Closer to Oscar Gold
With the 92nd Academy Awards less only a few days away, there’s still a lot of speculation surrounding the major award categories . One film that remains the center of attention for many is Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite”. Having succeeded in areas where few other films...
Director’s Guild of America Honors Directors at 72nd Annual Awards Ceremony
As it has been since the beginning of 2020, some of Hollywood’s finest talents have gathered together to celebrate the achievements of visual media in the year 2019, only this time, the focus has been narrowed to the figure that many consider to be the most important...
“Parasite” Makes History as First Foreign Best Ensemble Winner at the SAG Awards.
Despite victory, not a single actor from the film was nominated elsewhere. Since its Palme d’Or victory at the Cannes Film Festival last year, South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” has been an award season powerhouse, accomplishing what very few films made...
With Critics’ Choice Award Win, “Parasite” Continues To Infect the Hollywood Award Circuit
Photo Credit: Zimbo.com Source: Getty Images North America At World Wide Motion Pictures, we have taken great interest in finding films made outside the Hollywood system, especially those made outside the United States, and striving to make them a more prominent...
“Parasite” Director Encourages Greater Foreign Film Consumption by U.S. Audiences
Bong Joon-Ho Photo Credit: Richard Milnes/Shutterstock At World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation, one of our primary objectives is to encourage a greater awareness and interest from the general public in films that are created outside the United States, many of which...
Asian Cinema Seeks to Strike Gold at the Golden Globes
Having been honored to distribute such award-winning works as Kazakhstan’s The Road to Mother and China’s The Nightingale, we here at World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation cherish the art of Asian cinema. We take great pleasure in seeing such films receive the same...
Indie Movie THE FAREWELL Awkwafina’s Role of a Lifetime Based on True Events
The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang and starring Awkwafina, is one of the biggest indie films of this year. With a 14.5 million USD box office holding, it “surpassed ‘Avengers: Endgame’ For Biggest Theater Average of the Year” according to Variety. Not only was the...
WWII Films continue to succeed
Each year on Memorial Day, we honor and commemorate our fallen heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. Hollywood has always been enamored with pictures that depict what many have deemed the last great war. The films that have been set during World War II with tales of...
The Impact of Mother/Son Relationships in Dramatic Films.
In the month of May, we celebrate and honor the women who carry the burden of bringing a human being into this world. Most of these women nurture, protect, and most importantly love their children with unconditional devotion. For a man, his first love is his mother...
Directors Guild Awards Foreign Film Nominees – Getting Deserved Recognition
Awards Season is upon us, including the upcoming DGA Awards on February 2, 2019, and It looks as though foreign language films like Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma and Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War are receiving more recognition this year at awards ceremonies than in past years....
71st DGA Awards Recap and Winners
The World Wide team was pleased to be in attendance at the 71st DGA awards held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Hollywood this past Sunday (Feb 3rd). Despite the rainy weather which soaked the red carpet, the stars were in attendance to show their support for the...