Zendaya’s Tennis Drama ‘Challengers’ Set To Kick Off The Venice Film Festival

Christopher Nolan has confirmed that he will “absolutely” not be working on more films until after the Hollywood strikes end.This week (July 13), the cast of Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer walked out of the UK premiere at the moment an actors’ strike began.The national board of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) – Hollywood’s largest union, which represents 160,000 actors and performers – voted unanimously to strike, according to The Los Angeles Times.SAG-AFTRA was seeking better pay and working conditions in the age of streaming, while other negotiations related to safeguards against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in the industry.Thousands of Hollywood productions are therefore currently paused, and Nolan discussed the meaning of the strike in an interview with BBC News, saying: “It’s not about me.”Asked whether he would be working on new films during the strike, he responded: “No, absolutely. It’s very important that everybody understands it is a very key moment in the relationship between working people and Hollywood.“This is not about me, this is not about the stars of my film.”The AMPTP said in a statement that “a strike is certainly not the outcome we hoped for as studios cannot operate without the performers that bring our TV shows and films to life”.“The Union has regrettably chosen a path that will lead to financial hardship for countless thousands of people who depend on the industry,” it added.The separate WGA (Writers Guild Of America) strike, which began on May 2, occurred following unsuccessful negotiations with AMPTP, who represent major Hollywood studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Paramount, Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan sees the insistence by striking SAG-AFTRA and WGA members that studios and streamers limit the use of artificial intelligence stems directly from the explosion of streaming over the past decade-plus.

Joey King is on the picket lines to fight for a fair deal for all SAG-AFTRA members!

that was hoped to have come from Cruise’s box office triumph with “Top Gun: Maverick” last year.On the other hand, “Dead Reckoning” is enjoying much stronger word of mouth than “Indiana Jones 5” with an A on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 96% critics and 94% audience. “Dead Reckoning” has also been reported to have stronger opening days in key overseas markets like South Korea and Great Britain, grossing $82 million internationally through Friday as it is on course for a $240 million global start.

Sean Gunn, who played Stars Hollow’s eccentric wannabe filmmaker Kirk on “Gilmore Girls”, is among the actors who hit the picket lines on Friday after SAG-AFTRA voted to strike.

shared a heartfelt message to his 3.2 million Instagram followers on Thursday night citing that he won’t be able to promote the upcoming superhero film due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.“We had so much great stuff aligned and I really wish that we could get it to you guys but we need to stand on the right side of history and because of that we’re planting our feet in the ground,” Maridueña said. “With that being said, this is a fantastic movie and you know, it needs to be seen on the bigger screen.”Maridueña also asked fans to support the movie and he gave a shout out to the Blue Beetle Battalion which have posting viral content on social media about the movie.

according to Variety, who first reported his resignation, he was specifically praised for his work by Rosie Perez.Finnie’s exit comes just over 2 weeks after that of the film academy’s executive vice president of impact and inclusion, Jeanell English, who quit after just one year in the job. Finnie and English are just 2 of the Black Hollywood executives who have stepped down or have been laid off the last month.The others would be Vernā Myers, who exited Netflix, Latondra Newton who departed the Walt Disney Company and Karen Horne, who was laid off by Warner Bros.

#SAGAFTRA Picket Line Interview: #MCU Legend & #SAG, #WGA & #DGA member @ClarkGregg says "I feel like we're kind of fighting to keep the soul in the art form" pic.twitter.com/7SWpjbvqGbGregg wasn’t the only actor on the picket line concerned about AI. Christopher Clawson, another SAG member who also happens to have a master’s degree in innovation and technology from the University of San Diego, hopes to see the unions “come up with a very specific language that will protect performers.”“The thing that scares me is that the studio’s know more about what these capabilities are, than the union,” Clawson said. “Because they’re the ones who get pitched this stuff, you know? They’re the ones with the deep pockets.

Ty Pennington had a severe health scare after a short stint in the Barbie world.

William Earl During a press conference Thursday, SAG-AFTRA leadership announced that the union was going on strike, and picketing started up Friday. In New York, the four locations were announced as HBO / Amazon, Warner Bros. Discovery / Netflix HQ, Paramount and NBC Universal. In Los Angeles, 8 sites were announced, including Warner Bros., Amazon / Culver Studios, Fox, Paramount, Netflix, Sunset / Gower, Disney and Sony. Corporate greed was at the center of messaging on day one of joint picketing from SAG-AFTRA and the WGA. When the bus carrying SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and the rest negotiating committee arrived outside of Netflix offices, they were mobbed by media and fellow protesters as they inched their way down the sidewalk along Sunset Boulevard.

Well, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav already put his foot in his mouth responding to the WGA writers’ strike, so now it’s Bob Iger‘s turn.

It doesn’t look like ITV will be buying The Traitors producer All3Media.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher will be on the picket lines Friday on the first day of the guild’s strike against the film and television industry. She’ll be joined by Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the guild’s national executive director and chief negotiator, and members of the guild’s negotiating committee.

Watch video of the press conference here.They were referring to a wave of sudden exits of executives that kicked off June 20 when Disney’s chief diversity officer and senior vice president Latondra Newton, left, according to Disney to pursue “other endeavors.” Then on June 28 Netflix announced that Vernā Myers, head of inclusion strategy, will leave the role in September after five years in the job in order to focus attention on her consulting company, The Vernā Myers Company.The next day, Warner Bros. Discovery laid off SVP of diversity, equity and inclusion Karen Horne, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s EVP of Impact and Inclusion Jeanell English stepped down.

Fortunately for HBO, “House Of The Dragon” is permitted to carry on with season two filming in the U.K., despite the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor A group of state legislators representing the California Legislative Black Caucus are calling on film studios to meet with them regarding the sudden removal of Black female executives over the past few weeks. A mass exodus of Black women from senior leadership posts — Vernā Myers (Netflix), LaTondra Newton (Disney), Jeanell English (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Karen Horne and Terra Potts (Warner Bros. Discovery) — has raised questions about the depth of the film and television industry’s commitment to diversifying the top ranks of the entertainment industry. The CLBC held a press conference on Thursday, citing the executives’ resignations and removals after the State Legislature approved the $1.6 billion Film Tax Credit initiative to provide tax incentives for the film studios.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” almost pulled an “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” by opening with an extended sequence featuring a de-aged version of its main star. “Dial of Destiny” de-aged Harrison Ford to mixed results for a 25-minute opener. “Dead Reckoning” director Christopher McQuarrie ultimately nixed an idea to de-age Tom Cruise because the technology just isn’t convincing enough yet. “Originally, there had been a whole sequence at the beginning of the movie that was going to take place in 1989,” McQuarrie told GamesRadar+ and Total Film. “We talked about it as a cold open, we talked about it as flashbacks in the movie, we looked at de-aging.”

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Jeff Zucker is not shopping for CNN, according to one of the backing partners of his new media venture. Gerry Cardinale, the private equity player and founder of RedBird Capital, partnered with International Media Investments last year to launch a $1 billion media acquisitions engine run by Zucker. Reports were rampant in June that Zucker was looking to take CNN off the hands of Warner Bros. Discovery, after running the news network for decades before resigning in 2022 over a consensual workplace affair. “No,” Cardinale said on Thursday when asked if he and Zucker were looking to buy CNN, speaking on stage at the Variety and Sportico Sports and Entertainment Summit in West Hollywood. “I would not have the longevity that I’ve had if I ran my business running around town talking about deals in a way that’s, frankly, disrespectful to David Zaslav. I’m kind of amused and irritated by it.”

The actors strike is “probably” going to last a while, according to SAG-AFTRA leadership.

House of the Dragon” can continue filming in the U.K. despite the SAG-AFTRA actors strike, Variety can reveal. Just as the U.S. actors union announced a strike Thursday, sources confirmed that production is planned to proceed as scheduled on the second season of the “Game of Thrones” prequel. The HBO series’ cast is composed of primarily U.K. actors who are working under contracts governed by the local union, Equity. As such, the series is technically allowed to continue filming because Equity members aren’t legally allowed to strike in solidarity with the U.S. union.

AMPTP from the June 30 deadline through July 12, the actors guild formally called for a strike during a press conference on July 13 led by SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher and lead negotiator Duncan Crabtree. With Hollywood already largely shut down this summer by the writers strike, which has been ongoing since May 2, the actors strike will complicate things even further. First and foremost, all production will now be forced to shut down completely. Prior to this, some projects had managed to stay up and running by working off of already completed scripts and simply not having any writers on set — including big-budget productions like the second season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon.” Amazon just recently wrapped filming on Season 2 of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in the U.K., making it one of the priciest shows to come in under the wire. Variety has confirmed that “House of the Dragon” will remain in production, however.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Brooklyn Peltz Beckham’s respective legal battles captivated our attention, so Discovery ordered a pair of investigative documentaries.

H.E.R. is going to do, it's wow a crowd.The 26-year-old singer delivered a stunning performance during Wednesday's 2023 ESPY Awards, playing her latest single, the elegant power ballad «The Journey,» as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of basketball coach Jimmy Valvano's inspirational speech at the first ESPYS in 1993 when he was terminally ill with cancer.Valvano was an American college basketball player, coach and broadcaster who served as head coach at North Carolina State University and led his team to win the 1983 NCAA men's basketball title against the heavily favored Houston Cougars.Per , Valvano's famous speech implored the audience to laugh, think and cry each day. He also announced the formation of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, whose motto would be «Don't give up.

Barbie film to be shown in the country’s cinemas, but have asked Hollywood distributors to blur the lines on a child-like drawing of a world map, which allegedly shows China’s disputed maritime claims.The film about the Mattel doll – directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling – is set to open in the south-east Asian nation on July 19.The censors began examining Barbie last week after Vietnam reportedly banned the film over scenes featuring a map showing the so-called nine-dash line, which China uses to justify its claim to the South China Sea.Beijing claims territorial ownership over almost the entire South China Sea, despite rival claims from other south-east Asian countries, including the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam.However, after “meticulous” scrutiny of the film, Philippine censors were satisfied that the “cartoonish map” did not depict the nine-dash line.“Instead, the map portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie from Barbie Land to the ’real world’, as an integral part of the story,” the censorship board said (via The Guardian).“Rest assured that the board has exhausted all possible resources in arriving at this decision as we have not hesitated in the past to sanction filmmakers/ producers/distributors for exhibiting the fictitious ’nine-dash line’ in their materials.”Despite being satisfied, the censors have still asked Hollywood studio Warner Bros. to “blur” the controversial lines on the map.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Despite reports over the years that Warner Bros. was courting the likes of Donald Glover, Ezra Miller and Ryan Gosling to play Willy Wonka, it was only Timothée Chalamet who got the offer to lead director Paul King’s prequel musical “Wonka.” And Chalamet didn’t even have to audition. King recently told Rolling Stone that he was a Chalamet “stan” and thus knew the actor had the singing and dancing chops required to play Wonka. “It was a straight offer because he’s great and he was the only person in my mind who could do it,” King said. “But because he’s Timothée Chalamet and his life is so absurd, his high school musical performances are on YouTube and have hundreds of thousands of views. So I knew from stanning for Timmy Chalamet that he could sing and dance really well.”

The London premiere of Universal’s largely anticipated title Oppenheimer is set to go ahead this evening despite a possible SAG-AFTRA strike on the horizon. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Major Japanese studio Toho Co. has announced “Godzilla Minus One” as the title of the latest instalment in its “Godzilla” film franchise. The film will premiere in Japanese theaters on Nov. 4. A U.S. release is set a few weeks later, on Dec. 1. The company revealed an understated poster and a short but punchy teaser trailer. It suggests that an already-devastated postwar Japan faces a new threat in the form of Godzilla, an enormous, mutated kaiju. Directed by sci-fi and fantasy specialist Yamazaki Takashi, the picture is the first Japanese-produced “Godzilla” movie since 2016’s “Shin Godzilla.” The previous picture topped the Japanese box office, earning JPY25 billion ($181 million at current exchange rates).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director As thousands of moviegoers gear up for double features of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” one person taking joy in the “Barbenheimer” craze is Nolan himself. Although his movie will be battling “Barbie” at the box office, Nolan recently told IGN that “it’s terrific” to have both summer tentpoles open on the same day. “Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we’ve been doing this a long time,” Nolan said. “I think for those of us who care about movies, we’ve been really waiting to have a crowded marketplace again, and now it’s here and that’s terrific.” Cillian Murphy, who stars in the title role of “Oppenehimer,” agreed with Nolan, telling IGN: “I think it’s great. I mean, I’ll be going to see ‘Barbie.’ I can’t wait to see it. I think it’s just great for the industry and for audiences that we have two amazing films by amazing filmmakers coming out the same day. Could spend a whole day in the cinema, what’s better than that?”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has appointed Katie Martin Kelley as executive VP of communications. Martin Kelley, who joins from MGM, will lead media relations and corporate communications for the film group, including Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema and the newly rebranded Warner Bros. Pictures Animation. DC Studios will fall under the purview of Candice McDonough, who previously led communications for Warner Bros. Film Group and has been newly hired to oversee publicity efforts for the company’s comic book division. Martin Kelley will report to Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, co-chairs and CEOs of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

The former Paramount and MGM Head of Corp Comm will rejoin the latter studio’s former execs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy at their film chief gigs over at Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Candice McDonough has been appointed to the newly created role of executive VP of publicity and communications for DC Studios. In the new position, she will oversee media relations, publicity, as well as external and employee communications. McDonough is moving from parent company Warner Bros. Film Group, where she led communication for more than five years. She will report to DC Studios co-chairmen and CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. “Candice is not only one of the smartest communications strategists out there, but we also know firsthand that she has a unique knack for partnering with creative talent to ensure their work is presented in the strongest and most compelling way,” Gunn and Safran said in a statement. “We could not be more excited to welcome Candice to DC and our senior team.”

The James Gunn and Peter Safran run DC Studios at Warner Bros. has made Candice McDonough their newly created EVP of Publicity and Communications.

K.J. Yossman Those six fateful words — “You skiied into my effing back” — are set to be immortalized on the small screen thanks to a new documentary about Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski crash lawsuit. Production company Optomen (“Johnny vs Amber,” “Kim vs Kanye: The Divorce”) are continuing their “Vs” series for Discovery+ with a doc about the “Sliding Doors” star’s legal woes. The civil trial earlier this year saw Paltrow sued by – and then counter-sue – retired optometrist Terry Sanders, after the duo collided on a Utah ski slope in 2016. Sanders claimed his entanglement with the “Goop” founder caused him to suffer physical injuries and emotional distress while Paltrow, for her part, lost half a day of skiing.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic HBO dominating the Emmy nominations is hardly a surprise, given both historical trends and the year they’ve had. But it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time. Amid endless media speculation around the cuts and bad P.R. missteps of Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, HBO — notionally the jewel in the crown of the newly-formed WBD’s television empire — cleaned up. In the best drama race, HBO picked up a startling four nominations (for “House of the Dragon,” “The Last of Us,” “Succession” and “The White Lotus”). In a happy coincidence, those four nominations, which tie an all-time record, represented the two halves of what HBO has lately done well, between pushing IP-driven storytelling to new heights in the cases of “House of the Dragon” and “The Last of Us” and turning carefully wrought, creator-driven drama into organic zeitgeist hits with “Succession” and “The White Lotus.”

Barbie won’t be banned in the Philippines after all, following a week-long review by local censors and government officials, although a scene with a controversial map of the South China Sea might be blurred for release.

The upcoming “Barbie” movie has been approved a commercial release in the Philippines after the country conducted “two review sessions and consultations with relevant government agencies,” as per a statement from the country’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) via Variety.