TV & Movies

After Dame Helen Mirren's announcement as Hespera, the divine foe that will face down Billy Batson, the Shazam sequel added Lucy Liu to its cast as Kalypso.

The Shazam! sequel stars Zachary Levi as the adult version of teenager Billy Batson (a reprising Asher Angel), who transforms into a superhero. David F. Sandberg is back as director.

Disney announced Friday that British actress Phoebe-Waller Bridge has signed on to appear in the upcoming fifth "Indiana Jones" movie alongside Harrison Ford, who's been wearing Indy's familiar fedora since 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The British writer-producer-actress created the acclaimed Amazon Studios dramedy Fleabag and was the showrunner of the first season of BBC America's Killing Eve.

James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari) is taking over directing duties from Steven Spielberg, who helmed the first four films in the franchise.

Paramount announced the studio would release a new movie in the Star Trek Universe movie on June 9, 2023. The studio did not announce a title or any other detail.

This will be the first new Star Trek film since the last instalment in the Kelvin-verse series, Star Trek Beyond, released in 2016.

Netflix has ordered two sequels of the 2019 whodunit mystery film "Knives Out". Rian Johnson will be returning as director and Daniel Craig will reprise his role as private detective Benoit Blanc. The deal cost Netflix $450 million.

Lifetime has greenlit a third movie about the relationship of the former Duke and Duchess of Sussex, titled "Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace", a sequel to 2018's "Harry & Meghan" and 2019's "Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal".

The film will "reveal what ultimately lead to the couple’s break from the royal family" and production will start in spring.

Oprah Winfrey is going to interview US inaugural poet Amanda Gorman in an upcoming episode of Apple TV+'s The Oprah Conversation on March 26.

"In this remarkable new interview, Gorman joins Oprah for a heartfelt conversation that celebrates the legendary literary heroes who inspire her work, and introduces viewers to her mother and the other important women in her life who have encouraged her pursuit of poetry," Apple TV+ wrote. Gorman also reveals her process for crafting the poem that captivated the world and catapulted her to fame, and shares personal stories from her upbringing that led her to this moment. As she reflects on the impact of her work, she looks ahead to share her hopes for the future, both personally and for the nation.

“Amanda Gorman is a young woman who stepped into a moment in history with enormous grace and dignity,” said Oprah Winfrey. “I was enthralled by her youthful spirit from the first moment we met, and very much looked forward to hearing her unpack all that has happened to her the past few months,” so Oprah Winfrey.

Disney has announced that Black Widow will be released simultaneously in theatres and on Disney+ on July 9 instead of May 7. The movie will be offered on Disney+ Premier Access and will come with a $30 rental fee.

The streaming service HBO Mac has ordered a two-part documentary exploring the life and death of the late actress Brittany Murphy, WarnerMedia announced on Thursday.

Our Brittany Murphy documentary cuts through the tabloid noise with an elevated, nuanced depiction of a sensational story. Crafting a grounded account of Brittany Murphy’s life struggles and sudden passing comes with great responsibility and we’ve partnered with a masterful creative team to produce a thoughtful examination of a tragedy that has long been cause for speculation,” so Jennifer O’Connell, executive vice president, Non-Fiction and Live-Action Family Programming, HBO Max.

For the first time in its 93-year-history, two women have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director: Chloé Zhao's Nomadland and Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman. Only five women have ever been nominated for this award.

Zhao is also the first Asian woman nominated for Best Director. She recently made history by being the first Asian woman to win the Golden Globe for Best Director. Nomadland is also nominated for five other Oscars, including Actress in a Leading Role (Frances McDormand), Best Screenplay (Chloé Zhao), Cinematography (Joshua James Richards) and Film Editing (Chloé Zhao).

Netflix's Mank – a 2020 biographical drama about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and his development of the screenplay for Citizen Kane by David Fincher – has been nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Actor in a Leading Role, Directing, Cinematography and Production Design.

Steven Yeun has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Minari – a film about a Korean American family that moves to a farm in Arkansas in search of their American dream. Yeun is the first Asian-American actor to be nominated for the Lead Actor award in the Academy's 93-year-history.

The British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) has announced the 2021 nominees for its annual award show. Four out of six nominees for the Best Director Award this year are women, ending a decade-long run of all-male nominees in this category: Sarah Gavron (Rocks), Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), Jasmine Zbanic (Quo Vadis, Aida?) and Shannon Murphy (Babyteeth).

Nomadland also sees nominations for Best Film, Best Leading Actress (Frances McDormand), Best Adapted Screenplay (Chloe Zhao), Cinematography (Joshua James Richards), Best Editing (Chloé Zhao), and Best Sound (Sergio Diaz, Zach Seivers, M. Wolf Snyder).

The late Chadwick Boseman is nominated for Best Film, Best Leading Actor for his role in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

As various users reported, HBO Max began playing Justice League after pausing an ongoing stream of Tom & Jerry. Some users were able to watch an entire hour before HBO Max corrected the error.

The leak has since been fixed, so DC fans will have to wait until next week after all. Zack Snyder's Justice League will be released worldwide on 18 March.

The 78th Golden Globes were dominated by streaming services, with Netflix productions winning in four categories.

Hulu's "Nomadland" won Best Picture Drama and Best Director Motion Picture for Chloé Zhao while Amazon's Borat Subsequent Moviefilm won the award for Best Picture – Musical/Comedy.

Netflix took home the most awards: I Care A Lot (Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical), Trial of the Chicago 7 (Best Screenplay), The Crown (Best Drama, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress), The Queen’s Gambit (Best Limited Series, Best Actress in a Limited Series) as well as the award for Best Actor for the late Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Unveiled via star Tom Holland's Instagram account, the official title for Spider-Man 3 has been revealed to be "Spider-Man: No Way Home".

Spider-Man 3 is currently set for a December 17, 2021 release date, directed by Jon Watts and starring Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange.

Kelsey Grammer has confirmed that he'll be reprising his role as Dr Frasier Crane in a reboot of the 90's hit TV show "Frasier" to be streamed by Paramount+.

During its first run, Frasier won 37 Emmy Awards over the course of its 11 seasons and is considered one of the most successful TV sitcoms.

"I gleefully anticipate sharing the next chapter in the continuing journey of Dr Frasier Crane," so Grammer.

Gaming company Valve and video platform Netflix have announced that the computer game Dota2 will become its own anime series.

The series is titled "DOTA: Dragon's Blood" and is to consist of a total of eight episodes, which will be released worldwide on the streaming platform as early as 25 March 2021.

Ashley Edward Miller (X-Men: First Class, Thor and Black Sails) serves as series showrunner and executive producer. Renowned Studio MIR (The Legend of Korra and Netflix's Voltron: Legendary Defender) is responsible for animation, with Ryu Ki Hyun serving as Co-Executive Producer.

Netflix has acquired the rights to the Redwall children’s fantasy book series by English writer Brian Jacques and is turning the 22-book-series into an animated movie and event series. The deal was made between Netflix and Penguin House Children and the feature film will be written by Patrick McHale, who created Cartoon Network's "Over the Garden Wall".

After the star of "The Mandalorian" and former mixed martial arts fighter received backlash online Wednesday for sharing a series of incendiary social media posts and memes mentioning Jeffrey Epstein and comparing conservatives in the U.S. to Holocaust victims, Lucasfilm confirmed that Gina Carano is no longer a part of the popular Disney+ show.

The news comes on the heels of the hashtag #FireGinaCarano trending on Twitter Wednesday as fans screen-grabbed the star's deleted posts, including an anti-Semitic Instagram story that she shared from another user that equivocated the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust to a disagreement over beliefs: "How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?"

Carano was a frequent guest star on "The Mandalorian" since the first season, often helping the title character on his mission to keep Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, safe from Imperial forces hunting the tiny alien creature.

Charisma Carpenter, who starred as Cordelia Chase on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, has accused Joss Whedon of misconduct and abuse of power on set in a statement published on Twitter.

"Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively," so Carpenter.

Actress Amber Benson replied shortly after, writing that "Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top" and that "there was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later."

A test of the Amber Alert system in Texas for missing child reporting caused 3 warnings to be sent publicly with Chucky the doll named the suspected kidnapper.

"We apologize for the confusion this may have caused and are diligently working to ensure this does not happen again," the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement to local news outlets.

A series set in Wakanda is in development at Disney Plus. Ryan Coogler, who will develop the series, is already working on the Black Panther sequel, which begins filming later in 2021.

"Ryan Coogler is a singular storyteller whose vision and range have made him one of the standout filmmakers of his generation," Bob Iger, Executive Chairman of The Walt Disney Company said in a statement. "With Black Panther, Ryan brought a groundbreaking story and iconic characters to life in a real, meaningful and memorable way, creating a watershed cultural moment. In a statement for Proximity Media, Coogler described his experience on Black Panther as "a dream come true" and his excitement to further the relationship with The Walt Disney Company and Marvel Studios on "select MCU shows for Disney+."

The Cannes Film Festival has confirmed a new set of dates for this year’s event, which has again been postponed due to the pandemic. The initial dates, which were May 11-22, didn’t seem feasible so the festival will run between July 6 and July 17.

The decision was taken following a board meeting on Tuesday.

Communicated with a statement on his Twitter account, Larry King has died aged 87.

The statement on his Twitter accounr reads that "for 63 years and across the platforms of radio, telvision and digital media, Larry's many thousands of interviews, awards, and global acclaim stand as a testament to his unique and lasting talent as a broadcaster."

Deadline reports that Chris Evans is negotiating a deal to reprise his Captain America role in the MCU in some form. Still vague if deal as completely closed but insiders say it's headed in that direction for Evans to return as Steve Rogers aka Captain America in at least one Marvel property with the door open for a second film.

Chris Evan, on Twitter, claims the reports are “news” to him.

A Sex and the City revival is heading to the small screen, more than 20 years after the hit series made its debut, but only Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis will return. Kim Cattrall, who played the popular character, Samantha, will not feature.

The new series, named 'And Just Like That...', will consist of 10 half-hour episodes and production will begin in late spring.

The Berlinale organizers announced the decision to have its upcoming film festival online. Originally set for February 11-21, 2021, the festival is pushing back the dates for its program to from March 1st to 5th.

The winners and a selection of the films from the March festival will then be presented in Berlin theatres in the summer.

"As an answer to the times in which we are living, we have decided to split our offer into two distinct, yet related events and in this way fulfil the mission of the Berlinale," said artistic director Carlo Chatrian in a press release.

Along with various businesses and schools, is already confirmed that Berlin's cultural institutions are to remain closed until the middle of January, and Lederer said in a Twitter video message that he expected the lockdown for cinemas to "go on a little longer."

The actor Sir Ian McKellen, who is most famous for his role as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, has received the Covid-19 vaccine by Pfizer/BioNTech. Being 81 years old, the actor was among the first groups to be vaccinated in the United Kingdom.

He publically stated: "I really hope that, as more people get vaccinated, we will move further along the path back to a more normal way of life".

Disney has confirmed that production for 'Sister Act 3' has started, with Whoopi Goldberg reprising her role as Deloris Van Cartier and Tyler Perry set to produce the movie alongside Goldberg. The third installment of Sister Act will premiere ion Disney Plus, but no release date is known yet.

Dame Barbara Windsor, best known for her roles in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell, the landlady of The Queen Vic in Eastenders has died aged 83 in a London care home on Thursday (10/12/20) evening from Alzheimer's.

Her husband, Scott Mitchell, confirmed the news that she had died peacefully. He said that Dame Barbara would be emembered for the "love, fun, friendship and brightness she brought to all our lives".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was one of the first high profile people to react to her death on Twitter. The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall also paid tribute to her charity and acting work.