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The 2022 TV series "Wednesday," created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, is a modern update of the Addams Family, characters featured in a series of ghoulish comic strips that first appeared in the pages of the New Yorker in 1933. Over the decades, the Addams Family characters were given their own sitcom, a few animated shows, and multiple theatrical features and TV movies, not to mention comic books, video games, and pinball machines.

The myth of the Addams Family has remained consistent throughout: The Addams are a loving, healthy family whose values only happen to be a complete dark mirror of ordinary people's. The Addams Family love death, bleakness, and misery. They regularly commit murder, and seem to be immortal. And yet, they love everything they do. The family patriarch Gomez is enthused and sexually devoted to his wife Morticia. The young daughter Wednesday is a classic Goth kid, and happy to harm her brother Pugsley.

Here's something you probably didn't expect to hear today: Judd Apatow and Steven Spielberg are making a movie together! That's right. The director of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" is making a movie with the director of numerous classics such as "Jurassic Park," not to mention one of the more prolific producers to ever do it. So, what are these two very unique titans working on together? What tale could possibly warrant such a collaboration? The tale of Coke vs. Pepsi, of course. We're not joking. This is real.

According to Deadline, Apatow is set to direct "Cola Wars," a film that will chronicle Pepsi's challenge of Coca-Cola as the number one soda in the marketplace, which began in the '80s. Spielbeg's Amblin Entertainment is set to produce the film, which is set up at Sony Pictures. The studio paid $1 million for the project earlier this year, which included a complete pitch.

Progress on Cola Wars is bubbling up, as the Sony Pictures feature has attached Judd Apatow to direct with Steven Spielberg to produce, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Apatow is set to helm the film that is still in its initial stages of development after the studio bought a pitch for the project earlier this year. Cola Wars is set to focus on the battle for soda supremacy that kicked off in the mid-1980s as Pepsi aimed to challenge Coke’s longtime dominance in the soft drink space.

Jason Shuman and Ben Queen are working on the script. Spielberg is producing Cola Wars through his company Amblin Entertainment, with Maia Eyre overseeing the film for Sony.

Shuman co-created the Apple TV+ series Acapulco and served as an executive producer on the HBO show Winning Time. Queen earned credits for his writing work on the animated sequel The Addams Family 2...

With Robert Downey Jr.’s return rejuvenating excitement around the MCU, fans are eagerly looking forward to the future. While not every upcoming project has sparked the same level of enthusiasm, the upcoming Vision Quest series has captured significant attention.

Vision Quest will reintroduce White Vision to the MCU following his storyline in the Avengers films and WandaVision. The series will function as both a spin-off and a sequel to the acclaimed WandaVision.

Slated for release in 2026, details about the series are still scarce. However, a well-regarded industry insider has hinted that Marvel is considering a young actor for a specific role, which may have connections to the upcoming Agatha All Along series. Keep reading to find out more!

According to a tweet we’ll quote shortly, this rumor originates from DanielRPK, a respected and reliable industry insider known for accurately breaking news. While this is still just a rumor,...

After Robert Downey Jr.’s return, the future of the MCU seems bright once again, and the fans are genuinely excited about the future once more. While not every upcoming project has been received with an equal amount of enthusiasm, the upcoming Vision Quest series is a project that a lot of the fans are looking out for.

Namely, Vision Quest is a project that will bring back White Vision to the MCU after what happened to the character in the Avengers movies and WandaVision. In that aspect, the series will also serve as both a spin-off and a sequel to the acclaimed WandaVision series.

The series is currently scheduled for a 2026 release and while we don’t have much data to work with, a popular and trusted industry insider claims that Marvel is eyeing one child actor for a very specific role that might have ties to the upcoming Agatha All Along series,...

Exclusive: Viva Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Hitpig!, a new animated feature starring Ted Lasso‘s Jason Sudeikis, for release in theaters nationwide on November 1. Check out a trailer for the film above.

Based on the New York Times bestseller Pete & Pickles from Berkeley Breathed, the film follows a clever bounty hunting pig (Sudeikis) who catches escaped animals and returns them to their owners. The next job for Hitpig is his biggest yet: returning a dancing elephant named Pickles (Lilly Singh) to a maniacal Vegas showman (Rainn Wilson), for a million bucks. The mission quickly escalates into a wild adventure around the world, and when danger looms, it’s up to Hitpig to save the day, though he can’t do it alone. Eventually, he must realize that some things are more important than a paycheck, coming to discover that friends are the greatest bounty of all.

Produced by Aniventure,...

Exclusive: The Jackal Group CEO Gail Berman is expanding her executive team as part of her overall deal with Sony Pictures Television, adding Chris Markey as Senior Vice President and Jennifer Katz as Director of Development. Berman inked a three-year overall deal with Sony TV in May to develop and produce scripted series for cable and streaming platforms.

Markey most recently oversaw development and production at the Universal Television based company Janollari Entertainment, where he produced NBC’s Bluff City Law and Midnight, Texas. Previously, he was a drama executive at Chernin Entertainment, working on Fox’s Touch and Terra Nova, and the A&e series Breakout Kings. Prior to that, he was in comedy development and series production at NBC and Universal Media Studios.

Katz joins The Jackal Group from Searchlight Pictures, where she most recently was Manager, TV Development & Production. There, she was an executive responsible for the development...

Josh Gad is attached to produce and star in a Spaceballs sequel in early development at Amazon MGM Studios, which Mel Brooks will also produce, Deadline can confirm.

Amazon declined to comment.

Josh Greenbaum (Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar) will direct from Gad’s script written with Benji Samit and Dan Hernandez (Detective Pikachu). Details as to the plot are under wraps. Kevin Salter will serve as executive producer on the project.

Directed by Brooks, the original Spaceballs was a send-up of the sci-fi genre released by MGM in 1987. The film’s plot revolves around the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) and President Skroob (Brooks), who attempt to steal the atmosphere of the peaceful planet Druidia, only to be thwarted by the hero Lone Starr (Bill Pullman), his sidekick Barf (John Candy), and the Druish princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga).

Others in the cast included Joan Rivers and Dick Van Patten.

Lucasfilm unveiled the teaser trailer for its “four-piece” animated special, “Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy” (streaming September 13 on Disney+), where the entire galaxy gets completely mixed up, reversing good and evil.

From showrunners and executive producers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, “Rebuild the Galaxy” concerns nerf-herder Sig Greebling (Gaten Matarazzo), who unearths a powerful artifact called The Cornerstone from a hidden Jedi temple, forcing him to rebuild the twisted galaxy.

The Lucasfilm mashup of Lego sets includes Ewok bounty hunters, Geonosian Jedi, and even Darth Jar Jar. They also snap together Imperial X-fighters, Rebel Tie-wings, and the Dark Falcon.

“Rebuild the Galaxy” marks the 25th year in the ongoing collaboration between Lucasfilm and the Lego Group. A teaser poster has also been released, featuring the “Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy” logo, a starfield comprised of Lego studs, and the Cornerstone.

“The opportunity to work with Lego and Lucasfilm...

Disney+ has shared the first teaser trailer for its new "four-piece" animated special, Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy.

Jar Jar Binks remains a divisive character among fans and it's long been theorised (jokingly...we think) that the Gungan was secretly a villain who set out to destroy the Galaxy. That's led to the "Darth Jar Jar" meme which this project is leaning into by finally introducing that version of a character who first debuted way back in 1999's The Phantom Menace.

And yes, Ahmed Best will reprise the role!

In Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, the entire Star Wars Galaxy gets completely mixed up when an ordinary nerf-herder, Sig Greebling, unearths a powerful artefact from a hidden Jedi temple.

He finds himself thrust into an adventure in a new, wondrously wild and twisted version of the Galaxy where good guys are bad, bad guys are good, and the...

Today, Disney+ unveiled the teaser trailer and poster for the “four-piece” animated special Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy. Launching on September 13, the special showcases the longtime collaboration between Lucasfilm and the Danish toy manufacturing company The Lego Group.

“It’s hard to believe that it’s been twenty-five years since the ground-breaking collaboration between Lucasfilm and The Lego Group began,” says executive producer James Waugh. “In that time, Lego Star Wars has given our fans the unique power to unlock their imaginations and play with the galaxy’s elements in any way they can conceive… and build.”

Waugh added: “It’s with that playful spirit in mind that we set out to ‘Rebuild the Galaxy’ like never before. Tapping into the comedic genius of Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, two of the most talented comedy writers I’ve had the fortune of working with, we’ve mixed and matched...

Exclusive: Wednesday and Elvis producer Gail Berman, founder and CEO of The Jackal Group, has signed a three-year overall deal with Sony Pictures Television. Under the pact, which starts today, the industry veteran will develop and produce scripted series for cable and streaming platforms.

Berman, an Oscar, Emmy and Tony-nominated producer and the only woman to have held top posts at both a major film studio and a broadcast television network, is coming off receiving the Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television at the 2024 PGA Awards.

“We are thrilled to partner with Gail,” said Katherine Pope, President, Sony Pictures Television Studios. “Beyond being a true legend, Gail is a brilliant producer and creative force, always doing the work with unwavering grace.”

Aligning with an independent TV studio is a natural next step for Berman who has spent a large part of her career as an independent producer, first working in...

There is something inherently captivating about crime shows. The American public is obsessed with them. It doesn't matter if the crime shows are fictional, like Law and Order, or accurate crime retellings of actual cases.

The New Hulu miniseries Under the Bridge is a true crime drama based on a novel by Rebecca Godfrey (1967-2022). It highlights the Canadian novelist's investigation into the gruesome murder of Reena Virk in Saanich, British Columbia, in 1997.

The crime rocked the Saanich area and much of Canada primarily because the Reena Virk killers consisted mainly of a group of teenage girls.

The Under the Bridge miniseries dramatizes the events somewhat as it looks at what happened when Godfrey went to Sannich to investigate the details of the crime and write her novel.

Here's what we know about the miniseries, which focuses primarily on how Godfrey (Riley Keough) and Officer Cam Bentland (Lily Gladstone) investigated the case.

Killer Collectibles highlights five of the most exciting new horror products announced each and every week, from toys and apparel to artwork, records, and much more.

Here are the coolest horror collectibles unveiled this week!

John Carpenter Shirt + Flexi Disc from Fright Rags

It was announced this week that John Carpenter’s Lost Themes IV: Noir is coming out in May. In addition to various vinyl editions of the album, the first single, “My Name Is Death,” is available on flexi disc with a matching shirt from Fright-Rags.

Limited to 500, the set costs $45 and is scheduled to ship the week of April 12. Both items feature artwork by Aaron Lea.

Stigmata Mediabook Blu-ray from Dark Sky Films

With Scream Factory’s 2015 edition out of print, Stigmata will be released on Blu-ray + DVD in Mediabook packaging on April 2 via Dark Sky Films. This version is packaged with a 24-page booklet.

The 1999 supernatural...

The BBC are showing a bunch of great family films over the Christmas period. They’re also showing House Of Gucci. Check out the full list below.

Nothing says Christmas like watching Adam Driver and Lady Gaga getting steamy on a building site. The BBC clearly know that, because they’re putting House Of Gucci on over the holidays. We’ll definitely be tuning in for that one.

Dodgy Italian accents aside, there’s a whole host of pretty recent cinema coming onto the Beeb this Christmas – if you missed any of these at the time and don’t want to shell out on a dozen streaming services, then this is the list for you!

We’ll update this list with timings and such when we have them. In the meantime, check out our list of all the BBC telly on its way over mince pie season, and check out...

Special announcement: as a special culinary bonus, all ten of this month’s Don’t-Miss Indies are, in fact, pumpkin spiced. Go ahead and lick your laptop or smartphone glass to confirm. No? Hm. Looks like that WordPress update hasn’t pushed through yet. Regardless, the spirit of Autumnal renewal (picaresque decay?) presently fills the October air, heralding the onset of Awards Season and its bountiful horn full of cinematic goodies. Starting here…

Foe

When You Can Watch: October 4 (Film Independent Presents), October 6

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent, Theaters

Director: Garth Davis

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal, Aaron Pierre

Why We’re Excited: An intricately crafted love story presented under the guise of a sci-fi tinged psychological thriller, writer-director Garth Davis’s latest offering is based on Iain Reid’s 2018 novel by the same name. Living on an isolated farm in the year 2065, Henrietta “Hen” and husband Junior have...

Exclusive: Anonymous Content is elevating longtime literary managers and producers Ryan Cunningham, David Kanter and Nicole Romano to partner.

Cunningham joined Anonymous Content in 2019 from Madhouse Entertainment where he had been a manager and producer for a decade. On the management side, his clients include filmmakers Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (65), Derek Tsang (The Three Body Problem), Daniel Goldhaber and Isa Mazzei (How to Blow Up a Pipeline); showrunners and writers Steven DeKnight (Spartacus), Jewel Coronel (The Chi), Seamus Fahey (Walker: Independence) and Sonya Winton & Jonathan Kidd (Lovecraft Country), Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), Neil Uliano and Bryan Schulz (The Peanuts Movie), and Ben Queen (The Addams Family 2). Cunningham most recently produced the Sky/Relativity feature The Independent, and executive-produced Stephen King adaptation The Boogeyman, which will be released in June by 20th Century Studios and Disney.

Kanter is a producer and manager at Anonymous...

By Marc Butterfield

Go See It!

Most sequels have a tough enough job just living up to their first movie, and this one would have had a big enough job just being a sequel to the original Shazam! What director David F. Sandberg’s first movie had was the novelty of the story of a boy having the power to just speak a magic word and finding himself in his now adult “ultimate form”, plus the power of being nearly Superman’s equal (some would argue even more), a fun novelty super hero movie. The story also had the subplot of young Billy Batson’s quest to find his mother after having been in foster homes his whole life, only to realize that the foster home he is in has provided him with the family he really needed by the end of the movie. In the end, he creates the Shazam family,...

Imax is adding two heavy hitters to its board, naming longtime entertainment executive Gail Berman and Reddit chief operating officer Jen Wong as directors.

Berman, an award-winning and prolific content creator with a diverse career across film, TV, digital media, and Broadway, is a producer of much-decorated and Oscar-nominated Best Picture Elvis and head of production studio Jackal Group.

Wong has led digital sales and strategy at a number of global media firms.

“As we continue to diversify and grow the IMAX business across platforms and around the world, we continue to bring new expertise onto our Board and both Gail and Jen have deep, proven experience across the media and entertainment landscape,” said Imax CEO Rich Gelfond. Berman’s expertise will be invaluable as the company looks to strengthen partnerships with studios and filmmakers, he said. Wong can help expand Imax technology across platforms and screens.

Berman currently oversees...

Imax announced Monday that it is naming Gail Berman and Jen Wong to its board of directors.

Wong is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Reddit, having led digital sales and strategy across firms like PopSugar, AOL and Time Inc., where she served as the COO and President of Digital. Berman has decades of experience as an entertainment executive and is currently the Chair and CEO of the Jackal Group.

“As we continue to diversify and grow the IMAX business across platforms and around the world, we continue to bring new expertise onto our Board and both Gail and Jen have deep, proven experience across the media and entertainment landscape,” Imax CEO Rich Gelfond said in a statement.

Also Read:

Bruce Willis’ Wife Asks Photographers to Give the Actor ‘Space’ After Dementia Diagnosis

“Gail is one of the most successful and respected executives in entertainment, and her expertise will be...

Check out the brand new trailer for director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.

Hitting theaters on March 17, the film continues the story of teenage Billy Batson who, upon reciting the magic word “Shazam!,” is transformed into his adult Super Hero alter ego, Shazam.

Bestowed with the powers of the gods, Billy Batson and his fellow foster kids are still learning how to juggle teenage life with having adult Super Hero alter-egos. But when the Daughters of Atlas, a vengeful trio of ancient gods, arrive on Earth in search of the magic stolen from them long ago, Billy—aka Shazam—and his family are thrust into a battle for their superpowers, their lives, and the fate of their world.

Check out the trailer breakdown Here with Sandberg where he talks about dragons, the daughters of Atlas and the magic word.

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” stars returning...

Fast growing, London-based VFX and animation studio group Cinesite said today it’s clinched a 235 million funding package as it continues to expand.

The firm’s longtime bankers NatWest and Barclay’s led the financing — a package of transactions that includes, debt, equity and mezzanine lines from existing shareholders.

Cinesite will use the fresh funds “to accelerate its growth by offering clients greater creative capacity, allowing the company to enter new geographies and business segments while building on its studio partnership model to expand its talent base & global footprint.”

Outside of London, Cinesite has facilities in Montreal and Vancouver and alongside partner studios in Berlin, Munich (Trixter), Belgrade, Skopje (FX3X), Montreal (Squeeze Animation & L’Atelier Animation), Quebec City (Squeeze), Mumbai (Assemblage Entertainment) and Vancouver (Image Engine), enabling it to scale to thousands of VFX & animation artists worldwide.

The deal with Assemblage was announced last month, marking Cinesite’s first foray into Asia.

Looking back, it's a small miracle that "The Addams Family" became the box office smash that it did when the pitch-black comedy debuted in theaters over Thanksgiving in 1991. According to a Variety interview for the film's 30th anniversary, director Barry Sonnenfeld painted a pretty grim picture for the film that got caught up in a studio change when Orion Pictures was suddenly sold to Paramount halfway through filming. "The whole second half of the shoot we were working for a studio that thought we were uncuttable and unreleasable, so things got more difficult," Sonnenfeld said. "They stopped letting us have bottled water on the set." That seems like a bizarre way for executives to cut costs. Was the water budget for "The Addams Family" really that out of control?

Of course, "The Addams Family" ended up grossing close to 200 million globally, spawning the even funnier sequel "Addams Family Values." Two highly successful animated versions,...

At long last, “Wednesday,” which stars Jenna Ortega of “X” and “Scream” fame, is streaming on Netflix. Ortega takes over the role from iconic ’90s Wednesday Christina Ricci, who so memorably burned down a Thanksgiving play in “Addams Family Values.”

Ricci appears as a different character in the series from Tim Burton and “Smallville” co-creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, while Catherine Zeta-Jones and Luis Guzman take over as Morticia and Gomez Addams.

Here’s where to rewatch the ’90s films that starred Anjelica Huston, Raúl Julia and Christopher Lloyd, and the two recent animated films. And, if you insist on seeking it out, the notorious direct-to-dvd “Addams Family Reunion,” starring Tim Curry and Daryl Hannah.

Also Read:

‘Wednesday’ Review: Jenna Ortega Delightfully Seethes in Netflix’s Moody YA Mystery The Addams Family (1991) Paramount Pictures

Cara mia! Barry Sonnenfeld’s delightful, droll take on the cartoon characters created by Chas Addams...

The minute you see the words “The Addams Family,” no doubt you snap your fingers twice.. The Addams clan has seen several incarnations since debuting as a series of The New Yorker cartoons penned by Charles Addams in 1938. The cartoons and the various films and television shows that rose in their wake perfectly blend the humorous and the macabre while focusing on the tight-knit family of Gomez, Morticia, their children Pugsley and Wednesday, and Uncle Fester.

The latest iteration is Tim Burton’s series “Wednesday,” set to debut on Netflix on November 23. The series centers on a teenage Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) trying to solve many mysteries, one being how to cement her identity outside the shadow of her ever-glamorous mother, Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Wednesday is also tasked with harnessing her budding psychic ability to solve a serial killer case at Nevermore Academy and cracking a murder mystery that involved her parents 25 years ago.

The Addams Family is an icon of happy madness, morbid fun, and macabre amusement. It is as much a sideshow as a franchise, and equal parts parachute, noose, and straitjacket. It was created in 1938 as a series of unrelated single-panel cartoons by Charles Addams, the only cartoonist The New Yorker magazine ever recommended for psychiatric evaluation. So it is a shame we’ll never know what the cartoonist would’ve thought of Tim Burton’s Wednesday, the latest and most promising adaptation of the warped family entertainment for televised consumption in quite some time.

Featuring Catherine Zeta-Jones as Morticia Addams, and Luis Guzmán as family patriarch Gomez, Wednesday stars Jenna Ortega as the title character. The cast also includes Christina Ricci, the most iconic Wednesday Addams from the 1990s films directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Touted as a supernaturally infused mystery set at the Nevermore Academy, Wednesday will get a full...

Newly crowned Warner Bros Film Group Co-Chairpersons and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will receive The Producers Guild of America’s 2023 Milestone Award.

The honor is bestowed on those executives and creatives known for their countless contributions to the film industry, both as individual producers and as a collaborative executive team.

The duo will accept the prize at the 34th Annual Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2023 at The Beverly Hilton.

Recent Milestone Award honorees include George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy while previous recipients include Hollywood legends Louis B. Mayer, Walt Disney, and Alfred Hitchcock, as well as contemporary innovators Steven Spielberg, Bob Iger, Sherry Lansing, Clint Eastwood, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, James Cameron, Ted Sarandos, Donna Langley, and more.

“Michael and Pam are an incredible team, excelling as both trusted creative producers and successful studio heads,” said Producers Guild of America Presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line...

The current slate of adult animation is about to get a lot more Aussie-ome. Get it? Like awesome? But a pun on Australia? Fine, I don't need your laughs to know that I'm funny. Joining Hulu's already stellar line-up of original series like "Solar Opposites" and "Hit-Monkey" comes "Koala Man," a superhero comedy about an average dad named Kevin, the It coordinator for the Depto town council with a relentless quest for justice. When he's feeling especially compelled, Kevin adapts the alter-ego of Koala Man, a superhero identity that allows Kevin to be the hero he feels he could never be in his normal, civilian life. It doesn't matter if the day's crime is battling interdimensional aliens or making sure neighborhood lawns aren't out of control, Koala Man is here to make sure everyone is adhering to the rules of the world. We're still a few months away until it premieres,...

Exclusive: A Disney film is in the works featuring the character Figment, a small purple dragon who serves as the mascot of Epcot’s Imagination Pavilion in Orlando. The feature hails from Seth Rogen’s Point Grey with Pokémon Detective Pikachu‘s Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit set to write, Deadline has learned.

Figment was created by Walt Disney Imagineers Tony Baxter and Steve Kirk, among other collaborators, in 1983, the same year it made its debut in the Epcot ride Journey Into Imagination. Figment is the embodiment of the imagining process— a figment of your imagination.

Although one of Disney’s more obscure characters, Figment has a devoted fanbase that has ensured his role at the park is never diminished. Various attempts to remove the ride or decrease his presence have been met with loud protests.

Today, he is the star of the latest version of the ride Journey Into Imagination with Figment.

The Addams Family's history began in 1938 when cartoonist Charles Addams first drew the eccentric (and then-nameless) characters in a series of cartoons for The New Yorker. In the 1960s, "The Addams Family" television show cemented the iconic characters' influence on pop culture. Whether or not they directly inspired their competitors like "The Munsters," the titular family and their ooky-spooky-kooky theme song have been inescapable ever since. There have been two live-action shows in the '60s and the '90s, two animated series in the '70s and the '90s, board games, and video games. In fall 2022, Netflix will debut a Wednesday Addams series.

But let's not forget the films! Decades after the family first debuted, director Barry Sonnenfeld finally brought them to the big screen in 1991's "The Addams Family," starring Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston, and Christina Ricci. Sequels followed in 1993 and 1998, with the latter film serving...

(L-r) Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Grace Caroline Currey as Super Hero Mary, Zachary Levi as Shazam, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla and D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro

Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Ent. All Rights Reserved. Tm & © DC

Shazam! is back!

Check out the first trailer for director David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! Fury Of The Gods.

The trailer appeared to a hyped up crowd during Warner Bros. Pictures’ theatrical panel in Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con 2022. Zachary Levi, Director David F. Sandberg, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer and Lucy Liu attended the panel to discuss the sequel set to open in theaters internationally beginning 15 December 2022 and in North America on December 21, 2022.

According to Variety:

The most energetic moment of the panel was when Helen Mirren and Rachel Zegler appeared remotely via video, and Mirren celebrated her female costars by saying,...

John Mulaney will return to Saturday Night Live this month, while Zoë Kravitz and Rosalía will make their hosting and musical guest debuts, respectively, in March.

SNL will return Feb. 26 with Mulaney hosting the show for the fifth time and LCD Soundystem serving as the musical guest for the second time (they previously appeared on the show in May 2017). On March 5, Oscar Isaac will make his SNL debut, while Charli Xcx will make her belated second appearance after her December performance was canceled as SNL pared its production back during the Omicron surge.

Australian streaming service Stan has renewed its exclusive content partnership with Hollywood studio MGM. The deal covers series and film titles.

First-run MGM series featured covered by the agreement include: “Billy the Kid,” an epic romantic-adventure series from MGM’s U.S. cable network Epix; “The Box,” a supernatural psychological thriller starring Anna Friel; and the French-Riviera-set series “The Reunion,” based on Guillaume Musso’s best-selling novel and starring Ioan Gruffudd.

Blockbuster films available to stream on Stan in 2023, include: Ridley’s Scott’s “House of Gucci”; Paul Thomas Anderson’s newly released coming-of-age comedy drama “Licorice Pizza”; the biographical musical drama “Respect”; and the upcoming animation “The Addams Family 2.”

As part of the newly extended partnership, the James Bond franchise is now available to stream on Stan. The most recent Bond film, “No Time To Die” will be available to the platform in 2023.

Stan recently signing new content agreements with NBCUniversal,...

This marks the fifth year that the entire membership of the academy can take part in the nomination stage of the Animated Feature Oscar race. Previously, only select members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch and invited members from the other branches could serve on the committee that decided the nominees. Collectively, the committee tended to favor traditional and stop-motion films over CG fare. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2022 Oscars predictions for Best Animated Feature.)

Mandatory attendance at screenings has been dropped and voters who want to be on the nominations committee need only attest to having seen all the contenders at theaters or screenings or by way of the the academy’s streaming site.

The method of determining the nominees has also changed. Gone is the system where voters scored a film from 6 (poor) to 10 (excellent) with only those movies meriting an average mark of at least 7.5 eligible for a nomination.

The Spooktacular Sequel Featuring Everyone’S Favorite Kooky Family Is Available To OWN With Exciting Never-before-seen Bonus Content With Cast And Crew

Showcasing An Incredible Voice Cast Including Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, CHLOË Grace Moretz, Nick Kroll, Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, Wallace Shawn, With Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler And Bill Hader – OWN It On Blu-ray And DVD January 18, 2022

Get ready for more finger snaps! The eccentric and unconventional Addams family is back in the all-new full-length animated comedy, The Addams Family 2, available to own for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD January 18, 2022 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Hailed by critics as “creepier and kookier than the first”, MGM’s hilarious sequel brings the beloved macabre squad closer than ever before as they squeeze into the family Rv and embark on a cross-country road trip. Packed with family-friendly laughs and spooky hijinks, The Addams Family 2 on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital is...

Hey everyone! We have a busy week of home media releases on tap, so let’s go ahead and just dive right into everything. Two of my favorite films of 2021—Julia Ducournau’s Titane and Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho—are both coming home on Tuesday and I cannot recommend them enough. For those of you with little monsters, The Addams Family 2 is making its way onto various formats, and if you’re a franchise completist, Candyman: Day of the Dead is getting the Vestron Video Collector’s Series treatment this week as well.

We also have a bunch of Italian horror movies arriving on Tuesday, including Mario Bava’s Shock, plus The Stendhal Syndrome and Deep Red from Dario Argento. Blue Underground is showing some love to The Toolbox Murders with their 4K release of the film, and Rlje Films is set to release An Unquiet Grave on DVD,...

Exclusive: Myriad Pictures has licensed Irish comedy Deadly Cuts to Level 33 Entertainment for distribution in North America.

The company will release the film on March 17, 2022, to coincide with St. Patrick’s Day.

Written and directed by Irish director Rachel Carey, and filmed on location in Ireland, the dark comedy is set in a working-class hair salon where young stylists Stacey, Gemma, Chantelle, along with boss Michelle become accidental vigilantes and community heroes as they take on the gang members and gentrifiers threatening their community.

Starring are Angeline Ball (The Commitments), Victoria Smurfit (The Beach), Ericka Roe (Herself), Lauren Larkin, and Shauna Higgins (A Date for Mad Mary).

Additional deals have closed in Australia/New Zealand (Rialto Distribution), South Africa (Mnet), and Spain (Media Solution Partners).

Following its Ireland release on October 8th, the film ranked in third place on its opening weekend behind No Time To Die and The Addams Family 2.

Total box office revenues in the U.K. and Ireland in 2021 rose 85% to £596.9 million ($811.1 million) from 2020’s total of £323.2 million ($439.3 million), according to the annual box office review released by Comscore. However, these numbers remain far below pre-pandemic levels when annual box office exceeded £1.3 billion in each of the five years up to 2019.

Cinemas were closed for the first 19 weeks of 2021 and allowed to reopen from May 17, but unlike 2020, which had repeated closures, 2021 did not witness any enforced closures since reopening.

The report reveals that 497 new titles were released in cinemas in 2021, up from 444 in 2020. Looking only at the period when cinemas were able to open, 2021 had just 20% fewer titles released mid-May to December than 2019, which had 625 releases in the equivalent period. Comscore expects 2022 to return to the usual volume, which peaked in 2019 at 938 new releases.

2020 saw a resurgence in drive-in cinemas, with 31 opened. Eight of these sites continued to...

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If you’ve been looking to save money on streaming platforms, Amazon has a mega deal that binge watchers won’t want to turn down. Right now, Amazon Prime Video members can add Starz, Paramount+, Showtime, and more channels for just $0.99 a month for up to two months.

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All of the channel add-ons can be viewed directly from Amazon Prime Video, which means that you won’t have to worry about signing in and out of various apps to watch your favorite content.

The stellar box office performance of “No Time to Die,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Dune” have boosted the U.K. and Ireland box office to £158.7 million ($214.1 million) in October, 2021, 30% more than October last year.

Figures released on Friday by Comscore also revealed that October is the highest grossing month of 2021 so far, with the 2021 year-to-date gross currently sitting at £413.3 million ($557.7 million).

The October leader is James Bond film “No Time to Die,” which has grossed £87.8 million since it opened Sept. 30, which also makes it the highest grosser of the year, far ahead of Disney’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” which has £21.2 million. Daniel Craig’s swan song is currently sixth on the all-time U.K. and Ireland chart, only 1% behind “Avengers: Endgame” (£88.8 million) and 15% behind the highest grossing Bond film, “Skyfall” (£103.2 million). Only one other film has crossed the £100 million mark, and that’s the No.

Between 2015 and 2019, box office in November was nearly 40 percent bigger than October. In October 2021, box office was $622 million; does that mean we can expect about $850 million in November?

The short answer: No. November will likely be flat, or close. While October 2021 box office represented 79 percent of 2019 (the last normal year), November looks unlikely to even hit 70 percent ($671 million).

October was a step in the right direction, but the top players’ uneven performances mutes its positives. Only “Venom” (now at $190 million) can claim to have performed at a pre-Covid level. “Halloween Kills,” “The Addams Family 2,” and “Dune” all grossed over $40 million last month, and presumably concurrent home play reduced their theatrical performances. To what degree, no one knows, but each had elevated marketing meant to enhance nontheatrical play.

Full disclosure: The estimates that follow are fairly conservative and multiple films will need to prove me wrong in order for November to meet October’s results.

Best original song Oscar contenders Beyoncé and Van Morrison are among those who received nominations in the visual media categories at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards (Hmma). Composers Hans Zimmer and Nicholas Britell were included among the familiar names picking up nods in the score categories.

The awards will be presented Nov. 17. The HMMAs honor composers, songwriters, and music supervisors for their work in music for film, television, and videogames.

Nominations here have historically been a harbinger or guide for what nominees and winners will pop up in the Golden Globes, Oscars, Grammys and Emmys that occur later in awards season, although there is a much wider field in the HMMAs, since there are separate divisions for sci-fi, animation, documentary and independent films in the score categories. The Hollywood Music in Media Awards will feature music performances, celebrity presenters, tributes to music industry icons, awards for composers, songwriters and...

Marcus Corp., which owns leading exhibitor Marcus Theatres and a chain of hotels, said it posted a profit last quarter for the first time since Covid struck bolstered by increasing vaccination rates, improving consumer confidence and the release of a greater number of high-performing new films.

The shares are up more than 4%. Cinemark and AMC Entertainment stock also headed higher, up, respectively, 4% and 10%. Marcus said total revenue more than quadrupled to $145.9 million for the three months ended in September and it swung to a profit of $1.76 million from a loss of $39.4 million.

On the exhibition side, sales from theater operations jumped to $38.2 million for the quarter from $3.1 million the year before, and concession ran up to $35.9 million from $3.2 million.

“We are optimistic about the continuing rebound in the movie theatre industry and at Marcus Theatres in particular,” said Rolando Rodriguez, CEO of Marcus Theatres. “The film studios continued to release...

James Bond film “No Time to Die” and epic Frank Herbert adaptation “Dune” slugged it out at the top of the U.K. and Ireland box office with the iconic spy edging out the desert warriors.

In its fifth weekend, Universal release “No Time to Die” collected £3.5 million ($4.7 million) and now has a total of £85.9 million, according to numbers released by Comscore.

Warner Bros.’ “Dune,” which had debuted in pole position, came in second with £3.3 million and has collected £13.2 million after its second weekend.

In its third weekend, Sony’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” took £1.5 million in third place and has a running total of £14.7 million.

Universal’s “The Addams Family 2” continued performing well with £1.4 million in fourth place and now has £8.9 million after its fourth weekend.

Rounding off the top five, another Universal release, “The Boss Baby: Family Business,” collected £1.3 million in its second weekend for a total of £4.9 million.

Halloween seems to have had a completely opposite impact on theaters and home viewing. Ticket sales dropped sharply this weekend, with parties, trick or treating and other holiday socializing taking priority. But at the same time, people searching for movies at home heavily favored Halloween-related content.

As always, unlike box office results, we are clueless about relative financial returns for VOD transactions. But it’s hard not to notice that among the three top 10 charts listed below, 18 of the 30 slots went to horror films. And nine of them went to older titles that have returned over the last two weeks.

For the first time in five weeks, “Free Guy” (Disney/$5.99) didn’t place #1 on all of the lists. It came very close though. It leads at Apple TV/iTunes and Google Play (both calculating by transactions), but fell to #3 at Vudu, which counts by revenues. That platform rarely has non-pvod...

For a second straight week, Dune: Part One held the top spot of the box-office weekend, again, besting Halloween Kills by almost double.

Dune took in $15.5 million in its second week of release. This gives the sci-fi film a two-week total of $69.4 million. In second, Halloween Kills made $8.5 million during its third weekend, to give it a total of $85.6 million so far. Also, holding firm in the same spot as last week was the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die, which added $7.8 million over the weekend to give the film a four-week tally of $133.3 million. Meanwhile, the anime action-adventure film Boku no Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission debuted in the fourth spot of this week’s top ten with an inaugural weekend of $6.4 million.

This knocked Venom: Let There Be Carnage to the fifth spot of this week’s list as it added $5.8 million to give the film a five-week total of $190.4 million.

The October box office was bountiful — at least in regards to the pandemic era.

Combined movie ticket sales in North America checked in at an estimated $637 million, according to Comscore. That’s the most revenue in any given month since the Covid-19 crisis struck, although it doesn’t break October records overall.

Leading the October 2021 domestic charge were Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($190.4 million), James Bond installment No Time to Die ($133.3 million), Halloween Kills ($85.6 million), Dune ($69.4 million) and The Addams Family 2 ($52.9 million).

Summer and the year-end holidays are generally the calendar’s ...

The October box office was bountiful — at least in regards to the pandemic era.

Combined movie ticket sales in North America checked in at an estimated $637 million, according to Comscore. That’s the most revenue in any given month since the Covid-19 crisis struck, although it doesn’t break October records overall.

Leading the October 2021 domestic charge were Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($190.4 million), James Bond installment No Time to Die ($133.3 million), Halloween Kills ($85.6 million), Dune ($69.4 million) and The Addams Family 2 ($52.9 million).

Summer and the year-end holidays are generally the calendar’s ...

Halloween on a Sunday made a slow box office all but inevitable. Studios avoided programming top new films and created the self-fulling prophecy of a $66 million total, by far the lowest in the strongest month this year.

It represented 57 percent of the closest weekend in 2019, bringing the four-week comparative rolling average to 75 percent.

“Dune” (Warner Bros.) had a weaker than anticipated second weekend, with a 62 percent drop grossing $15.5 million. Halloween was expected to hurt but Denis Villeneuve’s film lacked the competition of a major opening.

Next weekend it will face the challenge of “Eternals.” Not only will they compete for attention in overlapping audiences, it will also grab nearly all premium presentation screens that accounted for more than 25 percent of the “Dune” total. Its domestic take so far is $69.4 million, worldwide $292 million. That’s respectable, but not yet at a level where this is assured of a profit.

The...

Bill Hader's been busy. He's done voice work for a couple of characters on Marvel's "M.O.D.O.K." series, gotten the ball rolling on "Barry" season 3 (and 4!), and now he's voicing the mysterious mad scientist Dr. Cyrus Strange in "The Addams Family 2," in theaters now. I got the chance to chat with Hader via Zoom about everything ooky, spooky, and kooky, and even got some recommendations for some scary pre-Code movies to watch on Halloween!

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Before you got involved with this project, were you a big "Addams Family" fan?

Yeah, I mean, I remember watching...

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