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Exclusive: Veteran actor and comedian Eddie Griffin has signed with Independent Artist Group across the board, Deadline has learned.

Appearing in over 50 films and TV shows over more than three decades, Griffin won an NAACP Image Award from multiple nominations for his starring role in Malcolm & Eddie, a sitcom that aired on Upn for four seasons.

Appearing alongside Dave Chappelle, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper in the latter’s Academy Award winner A Star Is Born, he’s also been seen over the years in titles like the Denzel Washington thriller John Q, blaxploitation pic Undercover Brother, Armageddon, the Deuce Bigalow comedy franchise, Eddie Murphy starrer Norbit, Date Movie, Scary Movie 3, and My Baby’s Daddy, which he wrote, exec produced and starred in for Miramax.

Previously, Griffin also voiced the role of Richard Pryor on Adult Swim’s animated series Black Dynamite and starred on BET’s The Comedy Get Down.

If you’re trying to figure out what to watch on HBO Max, you may want to prioritize a number of films that are due to leave the streaming service in April.

Set to depart HBO Max at the end of this month are such noteworthy films as the Oscar-winning “Promising Young Woman,” the Tom Hanks Western “News of the World,” the Kurt Russell 1996 thriller “Executive Decision,” and the extended version of Bruce Willis’ final “Die Hard” film “A Good Day to Die Hard.”

Also leaving HBO Max this month is “The Fast and the Furious” and the franchise’s first sequel “2 Fast 2 Furious.”

Check out the full list of what’s leaving HBO Max in April below.

April 3:

Life’s Too Short, 2012 (HBO)

April 30:

2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003 (HBO)

A Good Day to Die Hard, 2013 (HBO) (Extended Version)

Aftermath, 2017 (HBO)

Anna to the Infinite Power, 1982 (HBO)

Bloodsport,...

Do not adjust your WiFi settings. No, you are not experiencing a severe case of Deja Streaming-vu. HBO Max’s list of new releases for May 2021 are indeed highlighted by two very recent WarnerMedia hits.

For starters, Tenet finally makes its long-awaited HBO Max this month. Mark your calendars as May 1 is the day that you can finally watch Christopher Nolan’s latest cerebral thriller. Of course, Tenet already had its theatrical release, but obviously that was not really an option for many of us. In addition to Tenet, Wonder Woman 1984 makes its triumphant return to HBO Max this month on May 13. The Wonder Woman sequel already premiered on HBO Max this past December, now it’s getting a second run on the streamer.

In terms of newer originals, May is relatively light for HBO Max. The Jean Smart-starring comedy Hacks premieres on May 13. The latest Adventure Time...

The Berkeley Film Foundation is set to honor the trailblazing filmmaker Cheryl Dunye with the inaugural Award for Justice & Inclusion in Film. She will be given the award at the foundation’s 10th Anniversary Celebration, the Gala for Justice & Inclusion in Film at Sfjazz on November 23.

The Award for Justice & Inclusion in Film was established to recognize visionary local filmmakers whose careers have paved the way for future generations of Bay Area filmmakers, especially filmmakers of color, women, students, people with disabilities and Lgtbq filmmakers.

Dunye emerged during the “Queer New Wave” of young filmmakers during the ’90s. Her debut feature film The Watermelon Woman won the Teddy Award for Best Feature at the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival. The film was re-released and restored in 2016 for its 20th anniversary. The film has cemented itself as a groundbreaking classic and is now part of the permanent cinema collection at the Museum...

Writer-director Cheryl Dunye (The Watermelon Woman, Stranger Inside) has signed with Echo Lake Management and Apa. Dunye, who is currently directing episodes of Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar for Own, emerged as part of the “New Queer Cinema” wave of young filmmakers in the 1990s. Dunye has made over 15 films including Mommy Is Coming, The Owls, My Baby's Daddy, and HBO's Stranger Inside, which garnered her an Independent Spirit award nomination for Best Director. Her debut…...

There’s a scene in Cheryl Dunye’s groundbreaking 1996 debut, “The Watermelon Woman” in which Dunye is hassled by two police officers. Playing a fictionalized version of herself, the Black lesbian endures their harassment as they mistake her for a man and call her a “crackhead.” The scene is a short one; after the cops search her, they let her go, and she doesn’t mention the encounter again. It’s a moment of head-shaking, not skull-cracking.

In a recent conversation with IndieWire, Dunye recalled a Q&a in which a young viewer marveled at how the filmmaker could have been so prescient in trumpeting “Black Lives Matter” issues. “That was an issue then!,” she said with a laugh, not dwelling on the pain underlying her statement. “I think that speaks to the power and the double-edged nature of this moment. This was happening before me, you’re just seeing...

Usually June is associated with the first real month of summer -- a time to go out and frolic through the wilderness like a snowman that doesn't know any better. But it also gets really, really hot, which has people retreating to their local multiplex or, even better, their luxuriously air-conditioned living rooms. With that in mind, take a look at the television shows and movies that will be available on Netflix's steaming service come June (via Vulture).

Thought the snail-who-dreamed-of-being-a-racecar saga ended with last summer's DreamWorks Animated joint "Turbo?" Think again. Apparently there's a television spin-off. And you can watch it on Netflix. We also have to give it up for a pair of wonderful sequels that are going to be on in June: the obviously-shot-in-Canada-even-though-it's-set-in-New York robo-epic "Short Circuit 2" (a favorite since childhood) and the far darker and more sinister "Wolf Creek 2," a sequel to the...

Photo: Warner Bros. I was completely out of the loop when it came to Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, a film predominantly known at this point as the worst reviewed movie of the last decade by RottenTomatoes standards. So, when I decided I would follow in the footsteps of my previous look at Skyline and regularly take a look back at movies considered to be among the worst ever that I had not yet seen, there was no better place to start.

In short, yes, this is a bad film. Terrible in fact. Is it the worst? That's all relative to the discussion. Worst in what way? Plot? Characters? Execution? Entertainment? In all honesty, this is a film I would consider a perfect entry in a new age of grindhouse. All I could think of while watching the inexplicable amount of explosions, lack of story and silly predicaments was of Robert Rodriguez...

Briefly: I can't quite believe that David Gordon Green will have two R-rated comedies out within months of one another in 2011. April sees the release of Your Highness, starring James Franco, Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel. And then in July there's The Sitter, starring Jonah Hill as a guy who ends up taking three kids he's watching across town on a mission to buy drugs for his girlfriend (Ari Graynor). Shockingly, things go wrong. Max Records, Sam Rockwell and J.B. Smoove are in the cast, and now we know that Method Man makes an appearance as well. We don't know his role, but as far as rappers-turned-actors go, Method Man has had a better run than many, with roles in The Wire, The Wackenss, Cop Land, Garden State and the upcoming Red Tails. (Ok, there are also Meet the Spartans and My Baby's Daddy, but let the guy...

New Line Cinema is in negotiations with Scary Movie 3 star Anthony Anderson to topline its kidnapping comedy King's Ransom. Anderson will play a rich, cocky and generally despised businessman who realizes he might lose half his wealth to the obnoxious wife he's trying to divorce. He decides to arrange his own kidnapping in order to wipe himself out and claim poverty, but he discovers that several other parties have plans to kidnap and ransom him as well. Ransom is being directed by Jeff Byrd from a Wayne Conley script. It is being produced by Darryl Taja of Catch 23's Alter Ego Pictures and is being overseen for New Line by production execs Matt Moore and Luke Ryan. Anderson has been busy lately with roles in the upcoming comedies My Baby's Daddy, Agent Cody Banks 2 and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. He also stars in the WB Network series All About the Andersons. Anderson is repped by ICM, Principato-Young Entertainment and attorney Rick Genow.

Anthony Anderson will star opposite Frankie Muniz in MGM's sequel to Agent Cody Banks for director Kevin Allen. Shooting is scheduled to start next month in London. Dylan Sellers and David Nicksay are producing along with Splendid Pictures and Maverick Films. The sequel, penned by Don Rhymer, will see Muniz's title character go undercover as a foreign-exchange student in England. Anderson will star as Banks' special operative handler, much like Angie Harmon did in the first installment. MGM executives Elizabeth Cantillon, Eric Paquette and Stephanie Palmer are overseeing the project. The casting of Anderson to the project follows on the heels of his successful turn in the comedy Kangaroo Jack. He also has been in business before with MGM as one of the ensemble players in Barbershop for director Tim Story. Anderson is repped by manager ICM, Paul Young at Principato-Young and attorney Rick Genow at Stone, Meyer & Genow. He is onscreen in Malibu's Most Wanted. Anderson next stars in My Baby's Mama and has a cameo in Scary Movie 3, both for Miramax Films. Earlier this month, Anderson wrapped shooting a pilot for Warner Bros. Television that he co-created titled All About the Andersons.

British actress Marsha Thomason will star opposite Eddie Murphy in the big-screen adaptation of the popular Disney theme park attraction Haunted Mansion. Thomason, who made her U.S. film debut opposite Martin Lawrence in the 2001 comedy Black Knight, will play Murphy's wife in the film about a work-obsessed father (Murphy) whose encounter with a ghost makes him realize the importance of his own family. Mansion is being directed by Rob Minkoff and produced by Andrew Gunn of Gunn Films and Don Hahn. The film was penned by David Berenbaum and is being overseen at the studio by production execs Brigham Taylor and Louanne Brickhouse. Production is scheduled to begin Jan. 6. Mansion is the latest project for Thomason in what has been a busy year. The actress recently wrapped the Miramax comedy My Baby's Mama opposite Eddie Griffin and can next be seen opposite Lukas Haas in the Working Title thriller Long Time Dead. Thomason is repped by Melanie Greene Management, Sue Latimer at ARG in London and attorney Fred Toczek.