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Universal’s “Wicked” has finally been unveiled to members of the film press, who are praising Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The film’s leads, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, are also earning raves across the board as the musical launches them into Oscar season as acting contenders.

Variety’s Katcy Stephen hailed the “Wicked” movie as a “masterpiece,” adding: “Ariana Grande makes Glinda sparkle: she milks every moment with gusto, humor and hair flips. Jon M. Chu added so much new life to the story that I can see why it needed to be 2 parts! Well worth the 20-year wait.”

I was 'pessimistical' going in, but…Wicked is a masterpiece. Ariana Grande makes Glinda sparkle: she milks every moment with gusto, humor and hair flips. Jon M. Chu added so much new life to the story that I can see why it needed to be 2 parts!

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame turns back time this Saturday night to finally welcome Cher as an inductee (to be introduced by double Emmy winner Zendaya). The Oscar winner has been eligible since 1991 and has waited over three decades to be selected. In fact, all of the 2024 newly-elected members have been waiting patiently to be chosen. No first-time eligible music artists were chosen this year.

The 39th annual induction ceremony will be live from Cleveland, Ohio, this Saturday, October 19, at 7:00 p.m. Et; 4:00 p.m. Pt streaming on Disney+. It will be available beginning Sunday on Hulu and will be broadcast later this year on ABC.

SEECher movies: 15 greatest films, ranked worst to best, include ‘Moonstruck,’ ‘Mask,’ ‘Silkwood’

Here is a complete list of 2024 Hof inductees, plus performers and presenters (at least the ones not being revealed ahead of time to create surprises).

Inductees:

Mary J. Blige...

David Burnham, a former New York Times investigative reporter whose work uncovering corruption in the New York Police Department circa the 1970s inspired the twice Oscar-nominated Serpico, died earlier this week at 91.

Per the Times, he died after a choking incident at dinner, at his home in Spruce Head, Maine, which caused his heart to stop.

Detective Frank Serpico, an undercover officer who had been trying to get the police department to crack down on the graft, worked as Burnham’s chief source, becoming the eventual subject of the 1973 crime thriller in which Al Pacino played him.

Frank Serpico, Frank Serpico, 2017. ©Sundance Selects/courtesy Everett Collection

Commemorating the reporter, Serpico wrote on social media, “Couldn’t have done it without you David,” alongside a thumbs up and praying emoji.

Burnham was hired by the Times in 1967 after telling the late metropolitan editor Arthur Gelb that the news organization’s coverage...

Stranger Things is entering the final months of production on its fifth and final season. Star Winona Ryder (Joyce) has been involved from the very start, almost an entire decade ago. It's been a crazy journey for her, from having to deal with searching for her missing son Will in the hellish Upside Down to fighting off hordes of monsters like the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer and finally Vecna.

Winona Ryder's portrayal of Joyce could've been very different. Turns out, in the beginning of the show, creators Matt and Ross Duffer wanted Joyce to be more of a fighter than she turned out to be; a 'supermom,' as Ryder says. The Joyce we see in season 1 is determined and desperate, she'll do anything to save her son, but she's not without her limits.

“I really fought for Joyce’s flaws,” Ryder told Esquire. “I didn’t want to be like supermom.

Marvel has been quite strict when it comes to gatekeeping their exclusive content before its release. But actors like Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo have made this challenging by accidentally spilling the beans on several occasions. This has forced the studio to take extreme measures to secure its secrets.

Tom Holland’s superhero in Far From Home. | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing.

Although the duo has accidentally spilled the beans about their projects, their Marvel co-star, Kurt Russell, in contrast, has an unwavering commitment to secrecy. However, he once gave a dire warning to his family after revealing that he spoiled a major moment of his project to them.

Kurt Russell’s Dire Warning That Sets Him Apart

Kurt Russell is a Hollywood legend known not only for his iconic roles but also for his utmost dedication to keeping his major project moments to secrecy.

Starting as a child actor in the 1960s,...

One thing Cher’s career has never been is predictable.

As a teenager in the Sixties, she cut her teeth with future husband Sonny Bono and producer Phil Spector. They would produce massive pop hits like “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On” that became staples in the Seventies. For a lesser star, that would have been the end of a good run but Cher is not like any other star. She and Sonny ended up reviving their careers with a variety show until they divorced. Cher would...

Ron Shelton's "Dark Blue" was a victim of impossible expectations. James Ellroy wrote the screenplay in 1993 (then titled "The Plague Season"), envisioning Kurt Russell in the role of racist LAPD Sergeant Eldon Perry. The story takes place in a jittery city awaiting the riot-inciting verdict of the Rodney King trial. We know what's coming in the macro, but the micro tale of Perry and his partner Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman) being forced to frame a couple of ex-cons for murders committed by informants loyal to their corrupt superior Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson) could break either way. This being Ellroy, the master of corrosive neo-l.A. noir, we're expecting everything to go down twisted. But with the riots looming, Perry and Keough's errand feels destined to get extra messy.

Given its long road to a greenlight, "Dark Blue" acquired the aura of a passion project for Ellroy. And since he tended to spin sprawling,...

Bill Cobbs put in the time and the work. He was 90 years old when he passed away June 25 at his home in Riverside, California and leaves behind a career of over 200 screen credits, along with a number of theatrical performances. Born Wilbert Francisco Cobbs in Cleveland, Ohio circa 1934, a time and a place where a Black man wasn’t always assured his dignity and especially not his rights, Cobbs came into this world and grew at a moment where seeing himself on the big screen wasn’t exactly possible. Sure, there were exceptions with stereotypes played by Stepin Fetchit as well as the grandeur of Paul Robeson, but the idea of being an actor wasn’t one that came automatically for Cobbs. He tried his hand at music, spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force as a radar technician and occasional stand-up comedian, sold cars, even worked at Ibm,...

Bill Cobbs, a prolific film and TV actor with memorable performances in Night At The Museum, Brother From Another Planet, Oz The Great And Powerful, The Sopranos and dozens of others, died surrounded by family Tuesday, June 25, of natural causes at his home in Inland Empire, California. He was 90.

His death was announced by family members on Facebook, and confirmed to Deadline by his publicist Chuck I. Jones.

“We are saddened to share the passing of Bill Cobbs,” wrote brother Thomas G. Cobbs. “On Tuesday, June 25, Bill passed away peacefully at his home in California. A beloved partner, big brother, uncle, surrogate parent, godfather and friend, Bill recently and happily celebrated his 90th birthday surrounded by cherished loved ones. As a family we are comforted knowing Bill has found peace and eternal rest with his Heavenly Father. We ask for your prayers and encouragement during this time.”

Said Jones, “Bill...

Sad news to report today as it has been confirmed that legendary character actor Bill Cobbs has died at the age of 90. The actor’s publicist, Chuck I. Jones, told TMZ that Cobbs passed away at his home in Riverside. He recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Cobbs leaves behind an incredible body of work, with memorable roles in movies such as The Hudsucker Proxy, The Bodyguard, That Thing You Do!, Ghosts of Mississippi, Night at the Museum, and so much more.

After serving for eight years in the U.S. Air Force, Cobbs sold cars and worked for Ibm before he decided to give acting a try. After appearing in various theater productions, he made his feature film debut in The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. “I came back home to see my mom and dad, and all our friends and neighbors went to see the movie, and everyone was waiting for my appearance,...

For cinephiles who came of moviegoing age during the 1970s and/or '80s, there is a shortlist of movie stars that, if you were talented and fortunate enough to become a filmmaker of some renown, you'd give anything to direct. And if you grew up with a hankering for horror and science-fiction flicks, the name Kurt Russell was probably at or near the top of that list.

Russell wasn't always one of the cool kids. In fact, he was a literally uncool kid for Disney as the teenage star of family comedies like "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes." Indeed, no one viewed Russell as a grown-up actor until he impressed in the title role of Carpenter's 1979 TV movie "Elvis." This did the trick. Two years later, Russell slipped under the scaly skin of laconic scoundrel Snake Plissken in Carpenter's dystopian actioner "Escape from New York." Then he went the...

Is Meryl Streep the greatest film performer of all time? According to Oscar voters over the past five decades, that might just be the case with her record-shattering 21 nominations and three wins. But her filmography is filled with gems that didn’t get any awards buzz. Tour through our photo gallery of Streep’s 27 greatest performances ranked from worst to best.

Streep snagged her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for “The Deer Hunter” (1978) and picked up her first trophy in that category the very next year for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979). She subsequently snagged two prizes in the lead category (“Sophie’s Choice” in 1982 and “The Iron Lady” in 2011) and competed 17 more times: Best Actress for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981), “Silkwood” (1983), “Out of Africa” (1985), “Ironweed” (1987), “A Cry in the Dark” (1988), “Postcards from the Edge” (1990), “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995), “One True Thing” (1998), “Music of the Heart” (1999), “The Devil Wears Prada...

Three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep revealed her admiration for actresses who move into production having achieved fame on the big screen in an onstage conversation Wednesday at the Cannes Film Festival.

“There are so many women are producing for themselves and I’m so in awe of the ones who have done that. Reese [Witherspoon] and Nicole [Kidman], Natalie Portman. Everybody has their own production company,” she said.

“I have a production company of babies and that’s what I’ve produced, but I didn’t ever want to get phone calls after seven o’clock at night. So, I never did that. I’m in awe of people who do that. There are only so many hours in the day,”’ said Streep, who had highlighted earlier that she was a mother of four, and grandmother of five.

Streep was speaking to a packed Debussy Theatre in Cannes, where she was the...

Exclusive: Meryl Streep says that a meeting is “imminent” where she’ll hear about the proposals for her to return for a third helping of Mamma Mia!

The acting legend, honored with an Honorary Palme d’Or at an emotional presentation Tuesday night during the Cannes Film Festival’s opening ceremony the Grand Théâtre Lumière, confirmed that “of course, I want to do it,” but first she wants to hear how producer Judy Craymer has resolved the issue of how Streep’s character Donna Sheridan can return for MM3 when it was revealed during the during the 2018 sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again that Donna had died.

Will there be some sort of resurrection, I wondered. “I don’t know how they’re going to do it. They have an idea. I haven’t heard it yet but it’s in [my diary] and I’m going to hear about it pretty soon,...

Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie, and Laura Dern are set to star in “Monsanto,” a drama based on the true story of an upstart lawyer who took on one of the most powerful and controversial chemical corporations in the U.S.

“Monsanto” is being co-written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and it’s also being produced by Adam McKay, who has long been vocal about the climate crisis and the impact corporations like Monsanto in particular have had on the environment.

The film is being introduced to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film beginning next week, with CAA Media Finance handling domestic rights and Rocket Science handling international sales.

“Monsanto” tells the true story of young, untried attorney Brent Wisner (Powell) who sues the giant U.S. chemical company on behalf of Dewayne “Lee” Johnson (Mackie), who used Monsanto’s weed and pesticide product Roundup for his...

Glen Powell, Anthony Mackie and Academy Award winner Laura Dern have signed on to star in “Monsanto,” the latest film from writer-director John Lee Hancock.

The film follows the true story of young, untried attorney Brent Wisner (Powell), who in 2019 took on a seemingly insurmountable case against the giant U.S. chemical company Monsanto on behalf of Dewayne “Lee” Johnson (Mackie) who used the company’s best-known product Roundup, a wildly financially successful weed and grass pesticide killer, as part of his job as a high school groundskeeper. Dern plays Dr. Melinda Rogers, the Monsanto Company’s chief toxicologist, who testifies with certainty that Roundup is safe during the landmark cancer trial.

“I was drawn to this contemporary David vs. Goliath true story because I found it dramatic, moving, quite funny and of critical importance in today’s world,” said Hancock. “My ambitions are to deliver a smart, thoughtful and...

Three Oscar winners on stage together!

Cher received the Icon Award at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards and she was honored by friends Meryl Streep and Jennifer Hudson!

The legendary performer was joined by Jennifer for a special performance on Monday (April 1) at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.

Meryl kicked off the segment by giving a speech to honor Cher and she talked about what the singer meant to her as a kid. Then, Jennifer performed “If I Could Turn Back Time” with Cher joining in for “Believe.”

For those who don’t know, Meryl and Cher worked together in the 1983 movie Silkwood and again in the 2018 film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, in which the pop star played the three-time Oscar winner’s mom.

Fyi: Cher is wearing Dolce&Gabbana. Jennifer is wearing a Taller Marmo dress, Alevi shoes, and Anabela Chan earrings on the carpet. She’s wearing...

Kurt Russell was born on March 17, 1951, in the Los Angeles suburb of Thousand Oaks. He started acting at the age of 12 on various television programs. In the 1960s he was signed to a 10-year contract with Walt Disney, which led to his appearance in many of the Disney films of the era. According to the late Robert Osborne of TCM (via Wikipedia), he became the studio’s top star of the 1970s.

Those Disney appearances did typecast Russell a bit and he would be stuck playing many roles that were somewhat wholesome in nature. He would turn that image around when director John Carpenter (fresh from the surprise blockbuster success of “Halloween”) cast him in the lead role of Elvis Presley in a TV movie called “Elvis!” That television film was really the first time Russell was taken seriously as an actor and it earned him an Emmy nomination. Carpenter...

For Henry Hill, the appeal of becoming a mobster is simple. “They weren’t like anybody else. They did whatever they wanted,” he explains in the famous monologue at the start of Goodfellas. “They parked in front of hydrants and never got a ticket. When they played cards all night nobody ever called the cops.”

Hank might also add to the list that they get the best deals at the grocery store, something that happens to wiseguy Vinnie Antonelli in the comedy My Blue Heaven. Noticing an unattended pricing gun, Vinnie gives himself a huge markdown on a bunch of steaks. When the cashier totals the haul at less than $20, he’s too impressed with the $100 bill Vinnie handed him to call foul. Even the manager only stops Vinnie to give the former mobster a comment card, saying nothing of the steal of a deal that just occurred.

Hill doesn’t realize it,...

Jim Carrey once called himself the “Tom Hanks of the Golden Globes” after his second straight victory with the Hollywood Foreign Press in 2000 (for “Man on the Moon” following “The Truman Show”). He could win with that group but somehow couldn’t impress Oscar voters. And he’s not the only actor in that situation. Our photo gallery features Carrey among the 20 actors who’ve never been nominated for an Oscar.

Even Academy Awards hosts such as Billy Crystal and Steve Martin haven’t been noticed by Oscar voters other than seeing them perform on the ceremony stage. They have both received critics awards and Golden Globe nominations in their long careers. Martin has at least received an honorary Oscar, but alas no individual nomination for either one throughout their careers.

Other Golden Globe film winners have included Richard Gere (“Chicago”) and Hugh Grant (“Four Weddings and a Funeral”). Our...

Not a single human on this or any other continent was surprised that Meryl Streep was nominated for a 2024 Golden Globe on Monday morning for her energetic and uproarious supporting performance in Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building.” The instant her name was read, she became a heavy favorite to win, too. It would be her ninth Globe statuette if it comes to pass on January 7 (if you don’t count her career achievement Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2017). Ho hum, just another day.

It’s already long since been established that Streep is consistently the greatest actress of our time, as effective doing comedy as she’s riveting performing drama. And yet maybe because she’s as dependable as the sunrise, it’s absurdly easy to take her and her achievements for granted. For instance, it’s been a dozen years since she won her last Globe – in...

Hollywood legend Tom Hanks has reminisced about his youthful brush with Cher. The actor recently appeared on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ alongside Cher and fellow actors Julia Roberts and Timothee Chalamet, and regaled the audience with a story from his days working at a hotel in the 1970s.

“I have worked for Cher. I was a bellman at the Oakland Hilton Hotel,” he began, prompting a surprised “No” from the ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ singer, 77, reports People magazine.

“You were with one of your rock-and-roll husbands, and we had your bag. And then word came down, ‘Hey, run this up to Cher’s room,’ so I did,” Tom continued.

The actor further mentioned, “I knocked on the door and I put it down and you came out and said, ‘Yeah, that’s it. Thanks, kid.’ And that was it.” “So I have worked for Cher.”

As per People,...

Hollywood legend Tom Hanks has reminisced about his youthful brush with Cher. The actor recently appeared on ‘The Graham Norton Show’ alongside Cher and fellow actors Julia Roberts and Timothee Chalamet, and regaled the audience with a story from his days working at a hotel in the 1970s.

“I have worked for Cher. I was a bellman at the Oakland Hilton Hotel,” he began, prompting a surprised “No” from the ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ singer, 77, reports People magazine.

“You were with one of your rock-and-roll husbands, and we had your bag. And then word came down, ‘Hey, run this up to Cher’s room,’ so I did,” Tom continued.

The actor further mentioned, “I knocked on the door and I put it down and you came out and said, ‘Yeah, that’s it. Thanks, kid.’ And that was it.” “So I have worked for Cher.”

As per People,...

When Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” opened on Nov. 18, 1983, directing was very much a man’s world. In the 1970s, there had been a few inroads for women. Italian director Lina Wertmuller was nominated for best director for 1976’s “Seven Beauties” Stateside, actress Barbara Loden, who was married to Oscar-winning director Elia Kazan, wrote, directed and starred in the acclaimed 1970 indie drama “Wanda,” which won best foreign film at the Venice Film Festival. She never followed up with another movie and died of breast cancer in 1980.

There was also Joan Micklin Silver (“Hester Street”), Claudia Weill (“Girlfriends”), Martha Coolidge (“Not a Pretty Picture”), Joan Tewkesbury (“Old Boyfriends”) and Joan Darling (“First Love”). But those filmmakers ran into brick walls when they tried to set up projects with the major studios. The late Silver told Vanity Fair in 2021 that a studio executive didn’t mince his word: “Feature films are expensive to make and expensive to market,...

One of the most beloved movies of 1983 is “The Big Chill,” starring Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, William Hurt and Meg Tilly. Written by Lawrence Kasdan and Barbara Benedek and directed by Kasdan, the film is an ensemble comedy-drama about a group of former college friends who reunite for a weekend after one of their college friends dies. Released 40 years ago on September 28, 1983, “The Big Chill” did well at the box office, making $56 million worldwide on a budget of just $8 million. The movie marked another financial triumph for director Kasdan, whose feature debut two years earlier, “Body Heat,” did well at the box office and with critics. Read on as Gold Derby celebrates “The Big Chill” 40th anniversary.

Critics for the most part gave positive notices to “The Big Chill,” including Richard Corliss in Time Magazine, who called it “funny and ferociously smart.” Vincent Canby in The New York Times said,...

Cher has long been known as the “Goddess of Pop,” thanks to her powerful voice and era-defying stage presence. A triple-threat performer, Cher is a prolific actor and a fashion icon. Cher has made headlines many times throughout her life due to her romances and for dating younger men. Through it all, however, Cher has always remained true to herself, evolving into each new era with grace and style. Many people have wondered how Cher manages to stay so young-looking, and in a recent morning show interview, the diva opened up to reveal a few of her secrets to eternal youth.

Cher has been making music for decades Cher | Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Born Cherilyn Sarkisian, Cher found early success with her partner and then-husband, Sonny Bono. The two rose to fame in the ’60s for singing folk songs before splitting up in the mid-70s. Cher launched a highly-successful solo career,...

Oliver Stone settled into a sofa on the terrace of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Cluj, Romania, apologizing for the jetlag and gazing at a downcast sky that had briefly parted over the Transylvanian hillside. “Let’s see if we can find some blue,” he said, describing himself — despite ample evidence to the contrary — as a “hopeful” person. But after a week of steady downpours in this picturesque medieval city, the weather refused to cooperate. From the hotel terrace it was gray as far as the eye could see.

Stone was in Romania to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Transilvania Film Festival, which also programmed a small retrospective in honor of the three-time Academy Award-winning director including his latest film, the pro-nuclear-energy documentary “Nuclear Now,” which Variety’s Owen Gleiberman described as an “intensely compelling, must-see” doc after its premiere at the Venice Film Festival last year.

Before receiving the award,...

Cher has left a mark on the entertainment industry that’s hard to match. Known for her incredible voice and powerful performances on stage, she has also dabbled in acting and made some memorable appearances on the big and small screens. One such appearance was her cameo on the hit TV show Will & Grace, which had fans buzzing for weeks. However, what’s even more surprising is that Cher apparently didn’t rehearse ahead of her cameo, which left the cast and crew stunned.

Cher appeared on two episodes of ‘Will & Grace’ Cher | Tara Ziemba/Getty Images

Cher guest-starred in the Will & Grace Season 3 episode “Gypsies, Tramps and Weed” in 2000. She returned for the first half of the Season 4 finale in 2002, entitled “A.I.: Artificial Insemination: Part 1.”

In “Gypsies, Tramps, and Weed,” Jack, a huge fan of Cher, buys a doll of hers and treats it like a real person.

One of the most high-profile releases in the spring of 1983 was “Flashdance,” starring Jennifer Beals, directed by Adrian Lyne, and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson. It marked Beals’ feature film debut, as well as Lyne’s second major feature following 1980’s “Foxes.” It was also one of Bruckheimer’s and Simpson’s earliest projects, coming soon after “American Gigolo.” Released 40 years ago on April 15, 1983, “Flashdance” took second place at the box office its opening weekend with four million dollars, but then it became the sensation of the spring movies, jumping up to first place the next weekend and staying there well into early May. By the end of its run, “Flashdance,” about a woman who works as both a welder and an exotic dancer and wants to get into ballet school, made more than $90 million in the United States and more than $200 million worldwide. Read on for our...

Strangely, Elvis Presley and Kurt Russell's careers are intrinsically linked. For more than four decades, Russell has been a Hollywood mainstay. With his chiseled chin and rugged good looks, the actor looks like he was born to be a Hollywood A-lister. His performance in 1981's "Escape from New York" put him on the map as one of Hollywood's hottest action heroes. With subsequent films "Silkwood" and "Overboard," Russell would prove he had the acting chops to succeed in any genre.

But it didn't always feel like that. Russell made his feature film debut in 1963 with an uncredited role in the Elvis Presley movie "It Happened at the World's Fair." Despite rubbing elbows with one of the most popular entertainers of the era, Russell would spend the next 16 years toiling away in film and minor television roles, waiting for his big break. Ironically, an unexpected reconnection with the King of...

Fred Ward, a prolific actor best known for roles in The Right Stuff, Tremors, Miami Blues, True Detective and many others, died May 8. He was 79.

His death was announced by his publicist. No cause or place of death was disclosed.

Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery

Ward, a San Diego native, began his professional career with small roles in 1970s episodic television before making a strong impression in his breakthrough film Southern Comfort, directed by Walter Hill and released in 1981. Two years later, he’d star as astronaut Gus Grissom in the hit film The Right Stuff.

Featured roles would quickly follow, including in such films as Silkwood, Swing Shift, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors, Henry & June, the Robert Altman movies The Player and Short Cuts Errol Morris’ The Dark Wind and Michael Apted’s Thunderheart. He starred in and exec-produced the 1990 film Miami Blues, directed by...

Buckle up. “Black Box” is the kind of smart, taut conspiracy thriller Hollywood used to consistently make, only this one hails from France, which has been beating the American studios at their own game lately in the good-movies-for-grown-ups department. Centered on the eponymous device, recovered from a freak airplane accident, this engaging if slightly overlong film stars Pierre Niney as an obsessive forensic analyst who hears the words “Allahu Akbar!” on a recovered cockpit voice recorder and can’t quite believe his ears.

If the setup sounds a bit like Brian De Palma’s “Blow Out,” that’s hardly a bad thing, except “Black Box” centers on high-altitude hijinks, rather than a Chappaquiddick-like car crash. Opening the movie in mid-air, director Yann Gozlan leaves the crisis mostly up to the imagination, firing our neurons rather than our adrenaline receptors as he dollies backward from the cockpit, through the cabin, all...

Cher’s lawsuit claiming Sonny Bono’s widow, Mary Bono, owes her $1 million in unpaid royalties for Sonny & Cher songs — including hits like “I Got You Babe” — had its first major court hearing Monday, April 25, with a federal judge asking a telling hypothetical.

U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt heard arguments on a pending motion to dismiss the suit and challenged Mary Bono’s position that the federal Copyright Act allows her to terminate the 50% right to royalties that Sonny Bono agreed to fork over to Cher when the...

Sony Pictures Television is teaming up with corporate sibling the Game Show Network for the companies’ first joint upfront presentation to advertisers.

Live viewing and game shows’ capacity for brand integration will be two key areas of focus, an announcement said. In addition to staples like Jeopardy and some new programming, the pitch will also feature The Good Doctor, a marquee Sony property coming to the off-network syndication market in September.

Game Show Network, a highly penetrated linear channel with an active digital presence, says it boosted production last year by 32% over 2020 levels, reaching 350 hours of original programming. In an on-demand world, much of what it puts on the air is seen live, which the network sees as an advantage. Its most-viewed title is People Puzzler, a Leah Remini-hosted series based on People magazine’s crossword puzzle. Other staples include America Says, Master Minds and Chain Reaction.

Another show currently in development is Switch,...

In “The Burning Sea,” which is your basic, everyday Norwegian oil-rig disaster thriller, Stian (Henrik Bjelland), a rig worker stationed on a drilling platform that’s about to collapse, must descend into the bowels of the rig to shut down a well that can’t be reached remotely. As the soundtrack fills with one of those flatulent brass musical scores that sounds like it’s heralding the arrival of the devil, a bureaucratically ominous title splashes across the screen: “D Shaft, Gullfaks A, 138 meters under the sea.” 138 meters? That’s pretty far down, though not necessarily deep enough to be, you know, scary.

The disaster film started off as a “realistic” genre, one that gradually grew more over-the-top. In recent decades, though, directors like Roland Emmerich have accustomed us to the earthly-disaster-as-digital-ride. You could say it’s refreshing that “The Burning Sea,” the third in a series of not-so-over-the-top Norwegian disaster films,...

Is Meryl Streep the greatest film performer of all time? According to Oscar voters over the past 40+ years, that might just be the case with her record-shattering 21 nominations and three wins. But her filmography is filled with gems that didn’t get any awards buzz.

Streep snagged her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for “The Deer Hunter” (1978) and picked up her first trophy in that category the very next year for “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979). She subsequently snagged two prizes in the lead category (“Sophie’s Choice” in 1982 and “The Iron Lady” in 2011) and competed 17 more times: Best Actress for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” (1981), “Silkwood” (1983), “Out of Africa” (1985), “Ironweed” (1987), “A Cry in the Dark” (1988), “Postcards from the Edge” (1990), “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995), “One True Thing” (1998), “Music of the Heart” (1999), “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006), “Doubt” (2008), “Julie & Julia” (2009), “August: Osage County” (2013), “Florence Foster Jenkins” (2016), and “The Post” (2017); Best Supporting Actress...

There’s not much that Lady Gaga cannot do. A 12-time Grammy winner, the pop superstar has made a seamless transition to features (“A Star Is Born”) and television (“American Horror Story: Hotel”). As the world awaits her interpretation of the murderess Patrizia Reggiani in “House of Gucci,” are we also waiting on a future best actress winner, who could mimic a trajectory once executed by Cher (“Moonstruck”)?

The best actress race is buzzing with past nominees, previous winners, newcomers and career-defining character transformations (Kristen Stewart for “Spencer”). But while the field is notable, the cemented front-runner status has yet to materialize. Instead, the season has been awaiting Gaga’s turn as the Italian socialite convicted for hiring a hit man to kill her ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci (played by Adam Driver).

Many singers-turned-actors have achieved Oscar glory in the performance realm, including Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”) and Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls...

Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” • Andra Day’s debut album “Cheers to the Fall” and single “Rise Up” in 2015 earned her a Best R&b Album and Best R&b Performance Grammy nominations, respectively, the latter of which also scored a Daytime Emmy nod after she promoted it in “The View.” About her role in “TUSvBH,” Day told the New York Post, “When I embarked on it, I was like, ‘This is such a bad idea! I’m not an actress.'” She was wrong. She has the Golden Globe and Oscar nomination to prove it.

Mary J. Blige, “Mudbound” • Mary J. Blige’s music career began in 1991 when she signed with Uptown Records and went on to release 13 albums – eight of which went multi-platinum – and sold 80 million records worldwide. The winner of nine Grammys and the title of Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Blige smoothly transitioned to acting,...

I was covering the red carpet for a tribute to Mike Nichols years ago when Cher arrived. She took some photos but strolled by reporters hoping — to no avail — for an interview.

Feeling courageous — or maybe more desperate — I yelled out as loud as I could, “Cher!” She turned around. When our eyes met, I screamed, “I’m gay.”

Cher smiled and came over to me. I got my interview.

I recalled that moment while talking with the music legend for the latest episode of the “Just for Variety” podcast. “You said the magic word,” she says, laughing. “And it worked. … It shows my commitment.”

Cher, whose son Chaz Bono is transgender, has been an LGBTQ icon for as long as she’s been Cher — actually from when she was a preteen and still known as Cherilyn Sarkisian. She was about 10 years old when her mom introduced her to a...

On the eve of her 75th birthday, Cher tweeted out the news that a biopic about her life is in the works at Universal, with Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth set to write the script.

The biopic will be produced by Cher alongside Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman, the duo behind the “Mamma Mia!” film franchise. Cher appeared in 2018’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.”

Cher tweeted on Wednesday, “Ok Universal is Doing Biopic With My Friends Judy Craymer,Gary Goetzman Producing. Theyy Produced Both Mamma Mia’S,& My Dear Dear Friend 4 Yrs, & Oscar Winner..Eric Roth Is Going 2 Write It.”

Ok Universal is Doing Biopic With My Friends Judy Craymer,Gary Goetzman Producing.

Theyy Produced

Both Mamma Mia’S,&

My Dear Dear Friend 4 Yrs, & Oscar Winner..Eric Roth Is Going 2 Write It...

Exclusive: Cher just tweeted out that on the eve of celebrating her 75th birthday Thursday, she’ll have her life story unfold on movie screens through Universal Pictures. It is a major effort with heavy hitters, and here’s what is happening.

The as yet untitled film will be scripted by Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth, whose recent efforts include adapting Killers of the Flower Moon that is currently in production with Martin Scorsese directing Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and co-writing the upcoming Denis Villenueve-directed Dune epic. The Cher film will be produced by Judy Craymer — whose brainstorm it was to turn the Abba song catalog into the stage musical smash Mamma Mia! — and Playtone’s Gary Goetzman, who produced the Mamma Mia! films with Craymer. That duo will produce with Cher, who starred in the Mamma Mia! sequel. Cher just produced Kaavan, The World’s Loneliest Elephant, which is streaming on Paramount.

Cher is getting the biopic treatment thanks to Universal and Oscar-winner Eric Roth.

Roth is set to pen the screenplay for a feature film about the life and career of the multi-hyphenate entertainer, whose decades-long career has spanned music, television, fashion and film. It has included multiple studio albums, a comedy variety show, and a Las Vegas residency, as well as an expansive acting career that included Silkwood, Mask, The Witches of Eastwick, and Moonstruck, the latter of which earned her a best actress Oscar.

Mamma Mia! producers Judy Craymer and Gary Goetzman are set to produce the project, having worked with Cher on the Mamma ...

Usually March is our cool-down period after another exhausting but fun awards season. Here at (practically) the end of the first quarter of 2021, we're still three weeks away from Oscar night so we're reviewing each Oscar category still. Our internal calendars are a disaster. How about yours? Here's a quick recap in case you missed any of these...

A Dozen Highlights of March at Tfe

• Minari: A Tale of Two (or more) Grandmas Lynn gets personal for this movie

• The New Actress Hierarchy Frances & Glenn are still rising

• Gay Best Friend: Dolly in Silkwood All roads eventually lead to Cher

• Over & Overs: Amadeus This composer biopic never gets old

• Ten best onscreen pigs because we live for a random list

• Most Confusing Oscar Categories pre-Nominations It was supporting actor not actress that ended up shocking this year. Which other years had confusing results?

• This Had Oscar Buzz Nathaniel guest...

At the 2021 Academy Awards on April 25, “Nomadland” filmmaker Chloe Zhao could make history with the most individual Oscar wins since Walt Disney. With nominations in Best Picture (Zhao is a producer of her film), Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing, Zhao is already the most recognized female filmmaker in the history of the Academy Awards with four nominations. But if she manages a clean sweep of the categories, it would allow her to match Disney’s incredible 1954 performance, where he won a record four Oscars from a record six nominations.

But even if she’s able to match the legendary mogul, Disney will remain in the record books for his cumulative Oscars history. Ahead, a look at who has the most Academy Awards in history.

Who has the most Oscars?

The four Oscars that Disney won in 1954 represent only a fraction of his career total. Disney received 22 competitive...

a series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope

This is a place for legends only.All roads lead to Cher.

Her second major drama role after Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean the year prior, Cher won accolades and an Oscar nomination for Silkwood. As Dolly Pelliker, Cher brought humanity, warmth and vulnerability to Mike Nichols’ whistleblower drama. On the surface, she reads as the template for the lovesick, sad lesbian lusting after her best friend. However, in stretching herself for the role, Cher brings added dimension to what could’ve been a thin side character...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Audition (Takashi Miike)

Perhaps I’ve been subconsciously squeamishly avoiding it, but I’ve been waiting to see Takashi Miike’s Audition for some time and now the opportunity has easily arrived courtesy of Mubi. As Daisy Phillipson writes for Little White Lies, “On closer inspection, however, Miike asks us to consider the cultural context in which the film is set. Based on a novel by Ryu Murakami, who often uses social commentary to skewer concerns facing modern Japan, Audition offers an ingenious twist on national femininity by subverting the passive female horror narrative.”

Where to Stream: Mubi (free for 30 days)

The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)

One of the most ravishing movies ever made,...

When the American Film Institute announced that it was giving its 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award to Mike Nichols, the event instantly became the hottest ticket in town. As recounted in Mark Harris’ upcoming biography “Mike Nichols: A Life,” not only did just about all of Nichols’ most celebrated collaborators — Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Robin Williams, Jack Nicholson, Nora Ephron, Emma Thompson, Warren Beatty, Natalie Portman, Cher — immediately agree to attend, but other industry luminaries with no direct connection to Nichols called AFI and asked if they could come, too.

“Steven Spielberg said, ‘I want to be there for Mike,'” AFI chief Bob Gazzale says in the book. “Oprah Winfrey said, ‘How do I buy a table?’ It had never happened before, and I don’t know that it will happen again.”

Reading Harris’ meticulous, deeply engrossing account makes abundantly clear: We will never see the likes of Mike Nichols again.

Just a question I've been thinking of today for no apparent reason. What's a movie you think is vastly underrated that also happens to be respected / famous? Usually respected and famous things aren't exactly "underappreciated", you know? I'll give you four examples off the top of my head that I would use to answer this question in that I think they're genuinely great movies, in addition to being whatever else they happen to be.

• Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice

• Silkwood

• Marie Antoinette

• Magic Mike

What's your answer?...

No matter how many streaming platforms seem to pop up and demand your attention and subscription dollars, there are incredibly still movies that are just…missing. Not for streaming, not for rental, not for digital purchase, nothing. These movies are simply unavailable digitally. Maybe you can catch a cable broadcast or can find a DVD lying around, because chances are you’re not seeing a repertory screening of these either right now.

For years there were Disney movies, Studio Ghibli films, art house classics and James Cameron blockbusters that had no home, though that’s changed even within the last few months as HBO Max, Disney+. Criterion Channel and Peacock have all emerged, but there are still plenty that are not available at the push of a button. It can do with how Hollywood treats its film history, legal puzzles in terms of who owns what or the financial reality...

While Meryl Streep has been nominated a record number of times at the Oscars, she’s only won three times with bids #2, #4 and #17. That track record mean she has had to endure a staggering amount of losses at the Academy Awards. Surely, Streep was deserving of at least one other win from among these. After reviewing the roster of her thwarted bids for Oscar glory, be sure to vote in our poll as to which of these was the most egregious loss.

Streep lost her first Best Supporting Actress race for “The Deer Hunter” (1978) to Maggie Smith (“California Suite”; her third, for “Adaptation” (2002) to Catherine Zeta-Jones (“Chicago”); and her fourth (and most recent) for “Into the Woods” (2015) to Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”).

Streep lost the first of her Best Actress bids back in 1981 to Katharine Hepburn. She was up for “The French Lieutenant’s Woman” but Hepburn won her record fourth Best...