Movie News

William Blinn, a longtime writer responsible for “Purple Rain” and “Starsky & Hutch,” died on Thursday. He was 83.

Blinn passed away due to natural causes at an assisted living facility in Burbank, his daughter, Anneliese Johnson, told multiple media outlets.

Blinn enjoyed a four-decade career where, along with penning the script for the Prince-starring film, he also served as a writer for TV productions including “Roots,” “Bonanza” and “Fame.” In the 1970s, Blinn adapted Chicago Bears’ running back Gale Sayers’ autobiography, “I Am Third” into the ABC TV film, “Brian’s Song.” Based on the relationship between Sayers and his Bears teammate, Brian Piccolo, it is the fourth most-watched made-for-tv film. “Brian’s Song” earned Blinn one of his two Emmy awards.

In 1975, Blinn created “Starsky & Hutch,” which ran for 93 episodes over four seasons on ABC. It was originally presented as a 70-minute “movie of the week” before being turned into a TV show.

Apple, Netflix and other streaming services explored the possibility of acquiring “No Time to Die,” the upcoming James Bond movie that was originally slated to debut last April. The film’s release has been postponed multiple times, with the Daniel Craig vehicle moving back to November before being pushed into 2021 as the number of coronavirus cases kept growing.

MGM, the studio behind the film, reportedly lost between $30 million to $50 million due to the delays, insiders said. Bloomberg first reported the discussions, which have been the topic du jour in Hollywood this week. Other studios, such as Paramount and Sony, have raked in tens of millions by selling movies like “Greyhound,” “Coming 2 America” and “Without Remorse” to streaming services while the exhibition sector continues to struggle during the pandemic.

“We do not comment on rumors. The film is not for sale. The film’s release has been postponed until April

Oscar-winning writer and director Taika Waititi has signed on to executive produce “Frybread Face and Me.”

The film follows two adolescent Navajo cousins from different worlds who bond during a summer herding sheep on their grandmother’s ranch in Arizona while learning more about their family’s past and themselves.

Written and directed by Native American filmmaker Billy Luther, “Frybread Face and Me” was one of the 10 projects selected as part of 2020 Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs. The film is semi-autobiographical and Chad Burris (“City Boyz” “Ass Backwards”) is signed on to produce.

Waititi, who is in pre-production on “Thor: Love and Thunder” and the untitled “Star Wars” movie, read the script and immediately signed on, according to Luther. Waititi is the first Maori to win an Oscar and in his acceptance speech said, “I dedicate this to all the Indigenous kids in the world who want to do

Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, have swooped for all North American rights to Sundance award winner “Acasa, My Home.”

The film, which in January picked up the Special Jury Award for cinematography in the World Cinema Documentary category at Sundance, has been selected for more than 60 festivals around the world, and is a recent documentary contender in the European Film Awards.

The film tells the story of a Romanian family with nine children that lived fully off-grid in the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, in harmony with nature. However, when the land becomes a public park, they are evicted and forced to adapt to the big city, where they must fight for acceptance.

“Acasa, My Home” is directed by Radu Ciorniciuc and produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan for Manifest Film in collaboration with HBO Europe, Corso Film and Kino Company.

The film — which has been sold internationally by Autlook Filmsales

War film “Sacrifice” got off to a heroic start at the China box office on Friday, likely setting the tone for another good weekend in Chinese cinemas, and a barrage of films in the same canon.

By 7pm local time on its opening day, “Sacrifice” had notched up RMB74.1 million, or $11 million at current rates of exchange.

First audiences appear to have shown their critical approval too. Early viewer feedback via cinema ticketing agency Maoyan gives “Sacrifice” an excellent score of 9.4 out of 10, while rival ticketing agency Taopiaopiao viewers scored it a notch higher at 9.5. The more thoughtful cinephile site Douban has not yet given it a score.

Taken together, the film’s early box office and approval ratings allowed Maoyan to forecast that “Sacrifice” could run on to score RMB2.5 billion or $373 million. It that transpires, it would make it one of the top-grossing films anywhere in the world this year.

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” have won the top feature film trophies at the seventh annual Location Managers Guild International Awards.

Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” won the award for outstanding locations in a period film, and Joe Talbot’s “The ‘Last Black Man in San Francisco” won for outstanding locations in a contemporary film.

The television winners were HBO’s “Perry Mason” for a period series, BBC America’s “Killing Eve” for a contemporary series and a tie between Apple TV Plus’ “Little America” and Amazon Prime Video’s “ZeroZeroZero” in the limited anthology category.

Isaiah Mustafa hosted the event Saturday with the theme “2020 Vision: We See It First.” The ceremony was presented on a digital platform and streamed to a worldwide audience on Lmgi’s YouTube channel.

“At a time when the industry is shifting under our collective feet,

Bookmark this page for all the latest festival date changes.

The coronavirus pandemic has caused disruption worldwide to the regular festival calendar.

To help keep track of the changing schedule, Screen is keeping this page updated with the latest film festival and market dates, postponements and cancellations.

The events that are still set to run in some capacity are listed first, while those that were cancelled or ran online earlier in the year are further below.

To submit details of a change to your festival dates/status, please contact us here with the name, dates, and website for the event,

Looking for what's new (and good) on Amazon Prime Video this month? Wonderful news, because we've got you covered with a rundown of the best new movies hitting Amazon's streaming service in October 2020, from some old favorites to the newest releases everyone's going to be talking about. In the latter category, of course, the big-ticket item in Amazon's October releases is Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Sacha Baron Cohen's return as Borat Sagdiyev in the surprise sequel to his 2006 comedy sensation. And is, in fact, very nice. The film is off to a …

Quentin Tarantino loves his weird and obscure horror films, so when he recommends you watch something, you know you’re in for a treat. His latest Halloween recommendation? The 1974 slasher film “Devil Times Five,” also known as “People Toys” in certain territories.

Read More: The Best Horror Films Of 2020 (So Far)

Tarantino took the time to praise “Devil Times Five” during a PaleyFest panel promoting the second season of Eli Roth’s “History of Horror” show.

Continue reading ‘Devil Times Five’: Quentin Tarantino Recommends You Watch This Obscure ’70s Slasher For Halloween at The Playlist.

Michael B. Jordan is reportedly in talks to not only star in, but also direct, the third installment in the “Creed” film series. The news was first reported by Deadline within the context of a larger story about the studio MGM, which produced and distributed “Creed II” in 2018, and produced “Creed” with Warner Bros. distributing domestically in 2015. The first “Creed” film was helmed by Ryan Coogler, who directed Jordan in the films “Fruitvale Station” and “Black Panther.” “Creed II,” meanwhile, was directed by Steven Caple Jr. “Creed III” will mark the ninth installment in the “Rocky” franchise, dating back to the original starring Sylvester Stallone that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1977. “Creed III” also marks Jordan’s feature directorial debut. He previously executive-produced “Creed II.”

Back in February it was reported by THR that Zach Baylin, the scribe behind the upcoming Will Smith vehicle “King Richard,” is

Hildur Guðnadóttir and Nicholas Britell took top honors at the 20th World Soundtrack Awards on Saturday during the Ghent Film Festival.

Iceland-born, Berlin-based Guðnadóttir was named Film Composer of the Year for her Oscar-winning score for “Joker.” She won last year’s TV Composer of the Year for her Emmy-winning score for the HBO series “Chernobyl.”

American composer Britell was named TV Composer of the Year for his music for the second season of HBO’s “Succession.” He was last year’s Wsa award winner for Film Composer of the Year for “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Vice,” so Britell and Guðnadóttir essentially switch places from last year’s honors.

Wsa Discovery Of the Year went to American-born, Paris-based composer Bryce Dessner for his music for “The Two Popes.” The Wsa Public Choice Award, chosen by fans from around the world, went to Madrid-born, Los Angeles-based Alfonso G. Aguilar

They often say that if you can’t find what you’re looking for, it may be right under your nose. When it comes to the director of “Creed 3” why not look among your main cast, more specifically, Michael B. Jordan? Well, it turns out that’s exactly what MGM did because Michael B. Jordan is reportedly set to make his directorial debut with “Creed 3.”

Read More: Michael B.

Continue reading Michael B. Jordan Will Reportedly Make Directorial Debut With ‘Creed 3’ at The Playlist.

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Blue light glare from staring at your electronics all day might not necessarily be permanently damaging to your eyes — according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, it’s really only Uva or Uvb radiation that does that, and neither of those are emitted by computer screens — but long hours of staring at your computer screen definitely does contribute to eye strain.

There’s even more strain on your eyes now, too, considering that social activities also include Zooms and Google Hangouts. Blue light glasses, while not a protection against Uv rays, are certainly one way to help combat eye strain. The eyewear acts as a filter for the blue light that computer and phone screens emit, which is brighter than other types of light. And when you help ease that strain during your workday,

Daisy Edgar-Jones is quickly becoming a star to keep an eye on, with a breakout performance in this year’s “Normal People,” as well as roles in “Cold Feet” and the “War of the Worlds” miniseries. Now, Edgar-Jones is getting the lead role in a Hollywood feature film she deserves in the upcoming adaptation of “Where The Crawdads Sing.”

Read More: Rachel Weisz Teaming With ‘Normal People’ Writer To Reimagine Cronenberg’s ‘Dead Ringers’ As A TV Series

The Hollywood Reporter has the news on “Where The Crawdads Sing,” which Sony Pictures will adapt from Delia Owens‘ debut novel with the same title.

Continue reading ‘Where The Crawdads Sing’: ‘Normal People’s’ Daisy Edgar-Jones Set To Lead In Adaptation Of Bestselling Novel at The Playlist.

The two composers won for, respectively, their scores for ‘Joker’ and ‘Succession’.

Joker composer Hildur Gudnadóttir won the Wsa film composer of the year prize at the World Soundtrack Awards, held online this evening (Saturday October 24).

The livestream of the ceremony is available to watch here, both during the event and via a recording once it has finished.

Gudnadóttir’s prize meant she has now been represented at the WSAs for three consecutive years. The Icelandic composer was nominated for the discovery of the year award two years ago for Sicario: Day Of The Soldado, and won the TV composer

Well, it looks like Creed 3 maybe be one step closer to securing Michael B. Jordan as director. The actor and producer has been with the franchise from the beginning, so it makes sense that he would be eyed to helm the next installment. Jordan initially re-teamed with Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler for 2015's Creed, later reprising his role as boxer Adonis Johnson in 2018's Creed II. [caption id="attachment_531813" align="alignright" width="360"] Image via Warner Bros./caption] The news of Jordan's potential role as Creed 3 director was buried in a report from …

Much has been said already about Netflix‘s theatrical releases. Some feel like events you know about, others under-the-radar things will little-publicized dates (the recent “The Trial Of The Chicago 7“). Obviously, the ongoing pandemic affecting theatrical release plans is an issue, but this year, the streaming giant is seemingly going in a little harder with the release of their next awards player.

Continue reading ‘Mank’s Limited Theatrical Release Coming Nearly A Month Before December Netflix Debut at The Playlist.

Because David Fincher’s “Mank” is set in the Hollywood of the 1930s and early ’40s, the director wanted the film to look and feel like exactly that. The film is a re-evaluation of Hollywood through the eyes of scathing social critic and alcoholic screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz as he races to finish the screenplay for Orson Welles of “Citizen Kane.” And so “Mank,” which releases on Netflix on December 4 following a limited theatrical run to qualify the film for Oscars, transports you to that period through its visuals and sound design, which Fincher recently discussed in an extensive New York Magazine interview.

“Ren Klyce, who is the sound designer, and I started talking years ago about how we wanted to make this feel like it was found in the UCLA archives — or in Martin Scorsese’s basement on its way to restoration,” Fincher said. “Everything has been compressed and

When Saturday Night Live announced their return for the beginning of October, it came with news that they would be having five consecutive weekends of shows throughout the entire month. It’s the longest back-to-back run of episodes that I can remember, and executive producer Lorne Michaels has decided to extend that run adding another consecutive […]

The post ‘Saturday Night Live’ Adds a Sixth Consecutive Episode for the Weekend After the Election appeared first on /Film.

A stylish twist on the end-of-high-school dramedy, Tyler Taormina’s “Ham on Rye” offers the ethereal echoes of “The Virgin Suicides” with the gossamer veil of a humid summer’s day slowly lifting, but laced with notes of John Hughes on a steady micro-dose of LSD. That’s to say things are always off-kilter in this movie but the exact nature of whatever is the kink in this coming-of-ager never reveals itself. And while the narrative hardly goes into the fully unhinged direction it teases, it’s .

Director Taormina is a skillful young filmmaker, making his feature debut here. He’s working with mainly non-professional young actors with a simple setup: it’s the end of a high school year and a prom-like dance looms, along with its anticipatory jitters. A sprawling cast of teenage boys and girls is introduced in the opening scenes and the costumes and suburban setting suggest someplace middle-America,