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After experimenting with the world of Roald Dahl, Wes Anderson is back for another original tale in the form of The Phoenician Scheme, which ScreenRant is inviting its viewers to come to for a special early screening. The movie, written by Anderson on a story developed by him and Roman Coppola, the black comedy centers on wealthy business owner, Benicio del Toro's Zsa-zsa Korda, well-renowned for his successful ventures and frequent aeronautical crashes. When he elects to appoint his daughter, a nun, as the sole heir to his estate, they find themselves the targets of a wide array of enemies.

Just over a week before it gets its wide release, ScreenRant will be hosting two special early screenings of The Phoenician Scheme. The screenings will be held concurrently in Los Angeles at AMC The Grove and New York City at AMC Lincoln Square at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21. Tickets are limited,...

Ready for some scrumdiddlyumptious news? The Golden Ticket, an all-new reality competition series inspired by the bold and imaginative universe of Wonka, is coming to Netflix in 2026.

Just like Charlie Bucket and the other children in Roald Dahl’s original 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a group of lucky contestants will have the chance to step into the whimsical wonderland — and to enter, you’ll need a coveted golden ticket. To achieve sweet success in this high-stakes social experiment, players will have to adapt and strategize, as a golden ticket only gets you so far. Wonka’s guests must withstand games, tests, and temptations designed to prove their instincts, resilience, and ability to thrive in the chaos of a retro-futuristic dreamscape.

The filming location and other details will be revealed at a later date, so you’ll need to exercise some patience, patience, little dear. Think you have what...

The horror genre has produced lots of great TV shows throughout the years, with many dating back to the earliest days of television. Even now, fans of fright fare can still enjoy the many excellent episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and check out the lesser-known horror anthology series Rod Serling made afterward -- to name but a couple examples of the classics that are readily available for your viewing anxiety. Unfortunately, some old shows are lost in the fogs of time -- similar to the spirits that haunt people in their stories -- and will never see the light of day again. This brings us to "Late Night Horror," an obscure British anthology series from the 1960s that was allegedly purged for being too controversial.

As documented by Atlas Obscura, "Late Night Horror" hit the airwaves in 1968, producing six episodes in total. Similar to "The Twilight Zone," the series is...

While Peacock may be known for his huge slate of reality TV, each month the streamer drops off a wide selection of films every viewer can enjoy. And we’re here to list the best of the bunch.

From family-friendly flicks mixed to with some creepy thrillers that will keep you up at night, there’s nothing better than a good movie list to watch in your free time. Some of the films named below are ultimate classics, cinematic and cultural phenomenons, and others will prepare you upcoming spinoff projects.

Here’s our list of the seven best movies on Peacock this month.

Daniel Kaluuya in “Get Out” (Credit: Universal Pictures) “Get Out” (2017)

When Jordan’s Peele’s psychological horror film hit theaters in 2017, it took audiences by storm with its twisted themes that spotlighted the exploitation of Black people and Black culture, structural racism and police brutality. Peele’s directorial debut,...

An HBO executive has promised fans of the Harry Potter franchise that the upcoming reboot television series will not be “infused” with J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans beliefs, despite the author’s hands-on involvement with the series.

In the decades since the original book series and feature films, Rowling has become synonymous with her anti-trans rhetoric, with the author controversially espousing her viewpoints on social media. However, while even actors from the film series have spoken out against Rowling, HBO and its parent company Warner Bros. Discovery remain in the Rowling business.

Exclusive: John Lithgow will play Buzz Aldrin in a new podcast drama created by Stephen Kronish (24). Buzz will tell the story of the famous astronaut’s life and also get into the highs and lows of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.

Lithgow will narrate Buzz and be the voice of Aldrin as he reflects on his life and career. It is for iHeartPodcasts, which produces alongside Thoroughbred Studios, the new label established by heavyweight media vets Jeff Bewkes, Howard Stringer and Jeremy Fox, per Deadline’s scoop. John Scott Dryden (Passenger List) directs Buzz and his Goldhawk Productions is a co-producer.

The 11-part series is billed as a human drama with Aldrin at its core. The story unfolds as Aldrin faces up to his own frailties. Lithgow narrates and voices the modern-day Aldrin. Geoffrey Arend (Madam Secretary) plays the titular astronaut during the Apollo 11 era.

Lithgow’s dance card is chock full,...

Despite stepping into one of the most iconic roles in the wizarding world, John Lithgow is learning there’s a lot more baggage than just spellbooks and wands when it comes to HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series. Lithgow, who has been cast as Albus Dumbledore in the new TV adaptation, recently admitted that when he agreed to join the show, he wasn’t thinking about the firestorm of controversy surrounding franchise author J.K. Rowling. In fact, speaking to The Sunday Times, Lithgow revealed he was initially focused on something else entirely: mortality.

"It was a big decision because it’s probably the last major role I’ll play," Lithgow shared. "It’s an eight-year commitment, so I was just thinking about mortality and that this is a very good winding-down role."

But after his casting was announced, Lithgow received an unexpected heads up. A text from "a very good...

Harry Potter was once a franchise beloved by millennials, but now it's turned into something else entirely: a battlefield for transgender rights. This is because Jk Rowling, the author of the original books, is an outspoken anti-transgender activistwho has funded anti-trans campaigns in the UK.

LGBTQ+ people and their allies are angry, and some of that anger is making its way back to the actors cast in the upcoming HBO adaption. John Lithgow is one of these. He'll be playing Hogwarts headteacher Albus Dumbledore, one of the very few gay roles in the franchise - but he's stated he's not fazed by people attempting to get him to leave the very lucrative new TV show.

He spoke to UK newspaper The Times about it. In that interview he explained he had been texted twice by friends who wished him to step down from the role: once from a person who...

Incoming Harry Potter actor John Lithgow says he wasn't prepared for the backlash he received after joining the cast of HBO's new series, and that he's "curious" to have a conversation with J.K. Rowling about it all. Lithgow has been tapped to play Albus Dumbledore in the fresh adaptation of Rowling's novels, which is set to hit the small screen next year. The series is drawing the ire of many in a way the films never did, thanks to Rowling's outspoken views on the transgender community, which date as far back as 2020.

Speaking with The Times of London about his portrayal of antisemitic children's author Roald Dahl in the stage play, Giant, the subject of Harry Potter inevitably came up. How could it not? Lithgow's appearance in the project has been garnering a ton of attention because, as he put it, it's probably "the last major role" he'll ever play.

John Lithgow has responded to the backlash over his participation in the forthcoming HBO Harry Potter series. The Conclave actor joined the cast as Albus Dumbledore despite anti-trans rhetoric from author J.K. Rowling, who is an executive producer on the show.

Lithgow told The Times in the U.K. over the weekend that the potential controversy wasn’t a concern for him. “I thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her...

John Lithgow is brushing aside concerns about his playing Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series despite anti-trans rhetoric made by author J.K. Rowling, who also serves as an executive producer on the show.

Speaking with U.K. newspaper The Times, Lithgow said he has received a lot of feedback from friends and fans suggesting he shouldn’t have taken the role because of Rowling’s comments. He said he received a text from a friend who had sent him a link to an article titled “An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away From Harry Potter.” Before he had signed on for the role, he received another text from “a very good friend who is the mother of a trans child, and that was the canary in the coal mine.”

Asked if he expected the criticism, Lithgow replied: “No, absolutely not. Of course, it was a...

Despite the ire toward and denouncement of J.K. Rowling from such colleagues like Nicola Coughlan, Pedro Pascal and David Tennant, and amid the rise of anti-trans rhetoric from the presidential administration, John Lithgow is befuddled at how the author’s sentiments factor into his decision to step into the role of Albus Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming Harry Potter serialized adaptation.

Speaking to The Times U.K., the Conclave actor said he didn’t expect the backlash at his involvement and that the censure by audiences didn’t put him off from continuing with the project.

“I thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her and I’m curious to talk to her,” he said. When asked if the criticism dissuaded him, he responded, “Oh, heavens no.”

The veteran actor also...

When director Isaiah Saxon began his search for the voice of Ochi, the titular creature in his new film, The Legend of Ochi, he didn’t look to established actors, but YouTube. “I typed in ‘throat whistling,’ and I found this guy with one video on his account where he’s in his basement in sweatpants, and he’s like, ‘Hey guys, I figured out this thing I can do in the back of my throat,’” Saxon says. “And he opens his mouth, and the sound of the Ochi comes right out.

In a 2013 interview with Games Radar discussing the second season of "Black Mirror," creator Charlie Brooker revealed how his show had nearly borrowed the framing device from the hit 1960s anthology show "The Twilight Zone." Just as showrunner Rod Serling would talk directly to the camera at the start and finish of every episode, Brooker nearly did the same for every episode of "Black Mirror" season 1.

The main argument for this was that it would've helped ease a lot of the network's concerns. Brooker explained that studios are often reluctant to do anthology shows in part because there are no recurring characters for audiences to latch onto, like there would be for any other type of TV series. The closest thing "Black Mirror" could do — at least until it started playing around with sequels in season 7 — was to throw in a recurring narrator-type character.

"Rod Serling was the unifying character,...

Star Warsprequel trilogy star and Hollywood icon Natalie Portman explains why one interview question particularly irks her.

Speaking to Interview Magazine, Portman was asked about how she finds herself within the various characters she portrays and whether she looks for any of that kind of connection when going into a role. "I don’t know that it’s always the same for me," Portman replied. "I always hate the question of 'How do you relate to your characters' because I'm usually most interested in playing someone who's quite different from me."

"Because if it’s like me, I'd rather just live my own life," Portman explained. "But I think, because I have an aspect of my life that’s quite logistical now—I've got two kids who are in school and I want to spend as much time with them as possible—sometimes I take a job that is great,...

Natalie Portman is often seen as a serious figure, but that isn’t exactly how the actress looks at herself. While in conversation with Jenna Ortega for Interview Magazine, the actress revealed how her early start in the industry, and the sexualization that came with it, led to her putting up barriers that many people just see as being her.

Portman made her movie debut at the age of 12 in Leon: The Professional, in which she played a young girl with an uncomfortable relationship with Jean Reno’s middle-aged killer and courted controversy for the “Lolita” style appearance in the film – which was actually meant to see the pair become lovers in an early draft of the script. Speaking to Ortega, Portman said:

“I think there’s a public understanding of me that’s different from who I am. I’ve talked about it a little before—about how, as a kid,...

Conti plays twin brothers, one of whom is suspected of the other’s murder, in this dreamy but frustrating fable

Simon Perry’s elusive, lugubrious, faintly bizarre psychodrama from 1977, based on a novel of the same name by author and travel writer Nicholas Wollaston is now re-released; it is a dreamily directionless movie which resists, or almost resists, categorisation. It seems as if it is going to be a thriller or supernatural mystery, and you can wait almost until the final credits for some final narrative flourish or definitive plot shock that would prove what it’s all been about. And in fact there is a revelation, but it is presented so coolly that you will be expecting something else to come afterwards. An unsympathetic producer might well want to cut this film by two-thirds and present it as an episode of Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected, but...

Welcome to Tony Talk, a column in which Gold Derby contributors Sam Eckmann and David Buchanan offer Tony Awards analysis. No, your eyes do not deceive you! We are in fact discussing the 2026 Tony Awards today by way of Sunday night's Olivier Award winners in London celebrating the best of British theater.

David Buchanan: We're only three weeks away from the 2025 Tony Awards nominations, but we have to interrupt our predictions to address — believe it or not — the 2026 Tonys! Last night at the Oliviers, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Giant, and Fiddler on the Roof all tied as most-awarded productions of the night with three wins each. But let's start with Oedipus, which not only took home two trophies, but is also confirmed to transfer to Broadway this fall. How do you think its stunning cast, including last night's champ Lesley Manville, might fare stateside next year against a totally unknown Best Actress slate?...

Lionsgate isn't the only studio adapting Monopoly for the screen. A month after a movie adaptation was reported to be in development, Netflix has ordered a reality competition series based on the iconic Parker Brothers board game.

According to Deadline, after a competitive bidding process, Netflix has landed the reality competition series adaptation of Monopoly from Hasbro Entertainment. The forthcoming show will take the popular board game "to the real world in a large-scale social experiment contest. Strategy, alliances and cutthroat competition will collide as contestants battle for fortune and navigate the fine line between capitalism and chaos. Players will test their friendships, acquire riches and try to own it all by any means necessary."

Monopoly marks Netflix's latest move in the unscripted space as it targets developing more big-ticket reality shows for its streaming service. The company found success in the genre in late 2023 with Squid Game: The Challenge,...

Move over, Chrissy Teigen. A new banker will soon be hitting reality TV: Netflix has landed a new reality competition series based on the classic board game Monopoly, reports Deadline.

The Monopoly series aims to transform the beloved board game into a “large-scale social-experiment contest.” The series will fuse strategy and alliances with cutthroat competition as its contestants compete for fortune and navigate “capitalism and chaos.” Just like in the board game, friendships will be tested as players acquire wealth and attempt to own it all.

More from TVLineNetflix's Pulse Says It Doesn't Want to Be Grey's Anatomy - So...

John Lithgow has shared his thoughts on the current entertainment landscape in America, describing the arts as in "crisis". He attacked Donald Trump's second term as one of the main causes of the turmoil.

Variety reports that Lithgow gave an impassioned speech at the Olivier Awards in London on Saturday where he spoke out against President Trump's recent takeover of the Kennedy Center, a historic theater in Washington, D.C. "Our administration has done some shocking, destructive things, but the one that grieves me most is taking over the Kennedy Center," Lithgow lamented. "Well, [the state of the arts is] really in crisis now. First there was coronavirus, now there’s this."

While Lithgow's take is a highly political one, the famous actor — who will portray Dumbledore in HBO's new Harry Potter series — did manage to find some optimism in the current state of things that rings undeniably true. "It gives us all something to fight for,...

This summer marks the return of Wes Anderson, now with an Oscar in-hand for his quartet of Roald Dahl adaptations. The Phoenician Scheme tells the story of a family (and family business) and stars Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Sister Liesl, his daughter and a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn Lund, their tutor. With a cast also including Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, and Benedict Cumberbatch, Focus Features has now released the first trailer ahead of a likely Cannes debut, May 30 limited opening, and June 6 wide release.

Despite shooting all of his live-action features, along with his recent Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, Robert Yeoman took a break from his Anderson collaborations. Stepping in as director of photography, as he did for the Coens...

Wes Anderson is back this summer with The Phoenician Scheme. The first trailer from the indie filmmaker's new espionage thriller debuted at CinemaCon today, and Collider's Britta DeVore is on the scene. The film opens in limited release on May 30, 2025, before opening wide on June 7.

In the new trailer, a man (Benicio del Toro) lies in a cornfield following a plane crash. Barely surviving the accident, he decides that he must choose his successor. That successor will be his daughter, who is somewhat inconveniently a nun. Benedict Cumberbatch pops in with a ridiculous beard while an assassin comes for everything del Toro’s character has built during his lifetime. The trailer is shot in Anderson's now-trademark style, complete with his beloved Futura typeface. The trailer was not released to the public, so you'll just have to rely on our "surveillance report" to get you up to speed until we...

The other week, author George R.R. Martin did something surprising: writing on his Not a Blog, he publicly criticized HBO's Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon, which is based on his book Fire & Blood. He dinged the show for changing things from the source material in a way that weakened the story, and warned that there were bigger, "more toxic" changes being contemplated for future seasons of the show.

Martin never did anything like this during the nine years that Game of Thrones (which is based on his book series A Song of Ice and Fire) was running on HBO, so the changes that House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal made from his book obviously upset him. We the fans had inklings that something was bothering Martin before he went public, but I wasn't expecting him to be so up front about it.

Before this drama takes another turn,...

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This April, Netflix is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated conclusion to the psychological crime thriller drama series You to the brutal Tom Hardy action film Havoc. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Netflix this month and have an 80% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the seven best films that are coming to Netflix in April 2025 with an 80% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

The Age of Innocence (April 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 88% Credit – Columbia Pictures

The Age of Innocence is a historical romantic drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks. Based on the 1920 novel of the same name by Edith Wharton, the 1993 film is set in the 1870s and it follows Newland Archer, a wealthy...

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This April, Hulu is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated conclusion of The Handmaid’s Tale to the much-anticipated streaming release of Jude Law‘s The Order. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Hulu this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the seven best films that are coming to Hulu in April 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Arrival (April 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Arrival is a sci-fi drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer. Based on the 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, the 2016 film follows Louise Banks, a linguist, as she is enlisted by the Army to communicate with the aliens who have recently arrived on Earth.

Since his first film, Writer/Director Wes Anderson has become known for his highly visual combination of bright colors with an older aesthetic. His costuming and set design have a very specific signature that makes it easy to identify when watching a Wes Anderson movie. With him currently working on a new film, The Phoenician Scheme, which reunites him with his muse Bill Murray, we take a look back at all his feature-length films and try to figure out where they rank. To note, his recent Netflix shorts, including the Oscar-winning The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar aren’t included.

1​1. The French Dispatch (2021)

T​he only anthology movie Anderson has done so far, this film details the final issue of The French Dispatch. The paper will be shut down, so the editor brings together his best reporters and storytellers to publish one more edition. Each reporter narrates a section of...

Why did Emilia Clarke have to hide her skin color? (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Emilia Clarke has made a name for herself over the last decade and a half, in part thanks to her breakout role as Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, which she enlivened for nine years. The British actress, fawned over by the world for her Hollywood roles, shares genes from another part of the globe.

The actress, who stands with roots across the British Isles, holds a concealed heritage that perfectly complements her white identity. That secret stems tens of thousands of miles away in India, born during the colonial era.

As it turns out, Clarke’s maternal grandmother came from a hidden affair between Clarke’s great-grandmother and a man from British India. In fact, to fit in England, the former had to assume light makeup all the time to conceal the darker complexion she inherited from her biological father.

Willy Wonk & the Chocolate Factorywill always be an in-demand classic, and it recently topped Tubi's streaming chart. In February, it was revealed that the streaming service. It officially joined the free streaming site early in March and instantly rose to the top of its chart. On March 17, 2025, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory claimed the No. 1 spot in the United States and held its place until March 21, when it fell just slightly to No. 2. It's currently still in the top 10, bringing a feeling of much-needed nostalgia for free to fans of the best Roald Dahl adaptation. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is based on Dahl's 1964 novel "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The story was inspired by his early childhood experience with chocolate companies.

Starring Gene Wilder, the film was released on June 6, 1971, by Paramount Pictures. The plot follows Willy Wonka, the ultimate candy man, who prompts a worldwide frenzy...

There are certain characters in pop culture who, no matter the actor portraying them, conjure up a particular look and feeling about them when they're thought of or talked about. For instance, the general public image of Batman is someone in a cape and cowl who broods about while fighting crime, a persona that dominates despite the gulf of difference between Adam West and Christian Bale's screen portrayals of the Caped Crusader. James Bond is undoubtedly such a character; while he's only been played by six different actors during his 63 years on cinema screens — and these actors all brought something so unique to their portrayals that they're frequently ranked against each other in order of personal preference — there still exists a consistency to Bond's pop culture persona.

The reason for this is actually a fairly direct one. When Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman formed Eon Productions in...

The Golden Ticket Poster ( Photo Credit – Netflix )

Who hasn’t watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory growing up? Even for the younger generation, a prequel to the iconic film titled Wonka was released in 2023, starring Timothee Chalamet. Willy Wonka has been an incredibly interesting character for people across ages and formats.

Netflix is making use of the same love and nostalgia and are casting for a Willy Wonka-inspired reality show that will be a survival competition just like the one in the Johnny Depp starrer movie. The show is in early stages and applications are open. Here’s what we know about the upcoming series.

The Golden Ticket: Netflix Casting For A Willy Wonka-Inspired Reality Show

The Golden Ticket is a chance for a few lucky contestants to “step into the whimsical wonderland” and that is only possible with the coveted golden ticket in their hands. It is described as...

Netflix is launching The Golden Ticket, a reality competition series inspired by Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Lucky contestants will get a chance to explore a real-life Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, but only if they can find a golden ticket. Here’s the Lowdown: Produced by Eureka Productions, The Golden Ticket […]

Willy Wonka’s Factory Opens Its Doors: New Netflix Competition The Golden Ticket!

Netflix is looking for contestants for an upcoming Willy Wonka-inspired series called The Golden Ticket. Those interested are invited to apply online for the chance to "step inside" the fabled factory.

The Golden Ticket will see a group of lucky contestants given the chance to visit the wonderland of Roald Dahl's original 1964 novel,Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by getting their hands on a coveted golden ticket. A filming location and premiere date for The Golden Ticket has yet to be announced, but the competition series is currently accepting applicants. Wonka fans who are 18 years and older and United States residents are encouraged to apply on Netflix's website to compete in the "immersive factory" for a "huge" prize.

Netflix teased the obstacles contestants will face. "To achieve sweet success in this high-stakes social experiment, players will have to adapt and strategize, as a golden ticket only gets you so far,...

Calling all gum chewers, TV addicts and previously bedridden grandparents: Now’s your time to shine.

Netflix has ordered The Golden Ticket, an upcoming competition series inspired by Roald Dahl’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the “beloved and unpredictable universe” of Willy Wonka, the streamer announced Thursday.

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Much like in Dahl’s source material,...

Netflix has ordered a new reality competition series inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The series, The Golden Ticket, will combine elements of strategy, adventure and social dynamics, as contestants seek to gain entry to a “retro-futuristic” chocolate factory (via a golden ticket, of course) and then try to make it through all the challenges they will encounter.

Eureka Productions (The Mole, Dating Around, TwentySomethings Austin) is producing the series for Netflix.

The show will be the first project inspired by the world of Willy Wonka since Netflix acquired the Dahl intellectual property in 2021. Dahl’s other books include Matilda, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, James and the Giant Peach, and The Bfg, among many others. Until now, however, the streamer had not adapted arguably his most famous work for any film or TV projects (Warner Bros. released a Wonka film in 2023 that pre-dated the Netflix...

A new reality show called The Golden Ticket is heading to Netflix. It’s inspired by the wild and colorful world of Wonka from Roald Dahl’s 1964 book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Contestants will compete in a strange, exciting setting, but first, they need to snag a golden ticket to get in. Once inside, they’ll face challenges and games that test their smarts, toughness, and ability to handle a crazy, old-school yet futuristic environment.

Netflix hasn’t said yet where the show will be filmed or when it will premiere. For now, people who want to join have to wait for more details. To apply, you need to be at least 18 and a legal U.S. resident. There’s a link online to start the process, but other rules might apply too.

The Golden Ticket — an all-new competition show inspired by the beloved and unpredictable universe of Wonka — is coming to Netflix.

In the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory text, the eccentric Willy Wonka discovered Oompa Loompas and invited them to live and work at his wondrous chocolate factory. The three film adaptations of Roald Dahl's children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, introduced the Oompa Loompas to viewers differently. In 1971, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory revealed them to be smaller than average humanoid creatures with orange skin and cartoonish features. Tim Burton's 2005 adaptation of the story depicted them as identical workers — all played by actor Deep Roy — dressed in flashy clothes. The 2023 prequel Wonka follows the visual style of the 1971 film, with a single orange Oompa Loompa played by Hugh Grant. All three versions depict them as happy in their work, and the factory as a kind of fairytale kingdom where they can live in safety.

However, that dreamy portrayal was far from the truth. Even in...

As most schoolchildren know, the novels of Roald Dahl are whimsical, delightful, and full of spite. Dahl's stories were rarely sentimental screeds about the magic of childhood, angling instead to describe how horrible kids have it. In most of Dahl's novels, adults are depicted as horrid and abusive, screaming at children and often physically harming them, all while the children live in poverty and destitution. Kids are only free once they stand up to the evil adults in their lives and find a way out of their miserable, Dickensian surroundings. 

The films based on the works of Roald Dahl rarely capture the author's impeccable sense of childhood misery. The films, often made by American studios, tend to skew more traditionally "Hollywood," giving them happier endings, more action-packed scenes, and fewer moments of gentle, unusual whimsy. Naturally, Dahl disliked the films based on his books, mostly stemming from his overwhelming...

2009's stop-motion animated classic "Coraline," adapting Neil Gaiman's 2002 novella of the same name, remains widely beloved years after its debut. A dark fantasy story that has its eponymous protagonist escape her reality to a strange otherworldly realm, "Coraline" masterfully toes the line between childhood wonder and more sinister elements. Though wonderfully singular in its own way, there are a number of movies similar to "Coraline," some also stop-motion animated and some not. There is an honest adolescent vulnerability to the 2009 movie that has been touched on in different but recognizable ways by quite a few movies both before and since.

What so many of these movies like "Coraline" share is a sense of discovery into the fantastic, often in the face of the mundane back in conventional reality. Despite being ostensibly oriented for children, these movies aren't afraid to lean into more mature and melancholic themes. A good children's...

Hollywood icon John Lithgow opens up about how he landed the role of Star Wars' Yoda more than forty years ago.

Speaking to Collider, Lithgow laid out the story of how he ended up portraying the voice of Yoda for 1983's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back radio drama. Lithgow recalled being directed on Broadway in by John Madden, who was also directing the second entry in the Star Wars radio drama. "He had Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels and Mark Hamill," Lithgow said, "But Frank Oz had chosen not to play Yoda because he was very doctrinaire about only using his voice when he used a puppet—not unlike Dave Crealy, I might add."

That's how I got the role of Yoda in the radio production.

"So John was pissing and moaning over lunch one day during a rehearsal break that he couldn't find a Yoda, and I said,...

It’s another year of high-profile animated sequels, led by Disney’s “Zootopia 2,” DreamWorks’ “The Bad Guys 2,” and Nickelodeon/Paramount’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Square Pants” and the “Smurfs” film.

But there are plenty of attention-grabbing non-sequels in 2025: “Pixar’s sci-fi “Elio,” DreamWorks’ “Dog Man,” and Sony Pictures Classics’ “A Magnificent Life,” Sylvain Chomet’s biopic about French author-filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, and Sony Picture’s “Scarlet,” the latest anime from Mamoru Hosoda (“Belle”). In addition, Netflix delivers another diverse slate: “In Your Dreams,” “KPop Demon Hunters” (with Sony Pictures), Genndy Tartakovsky’s R-rated, 2D “Fixed,” “Lost in Starlight” (the streamer’s first Korean-language animated film), “Plankton: The Movie” (with Nickelodeon), “Pookoo” (with Skydance Animation), and “The Twits” from Roald Dahl.

Additionally, there are three Oscar-qualifying holdovers from 2024: “Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl,” “The Colors Within,” and “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie.

Amazon-MGM now has 100% control over the James Bond franchise, and the possibilities are endless. Could we finally see a fight between Bond and Jack Reacher? That’s a reach, but a spinoff TV show is a major possibility. The immediate concern is who will take over from Daniel Craig as MI6’s greatest fictional spy. Fans aren’t sure, and neither is Bezos, who recently placed an online poll to determine who the majority wishes to see in a tux. Henry Cavill won easily, but would it be wise to cast an already established actor in the role, especially one who has been in four spy-themed movies already? Or would it be better to go with a safer pair of hands, one whose past movies haven’t been subjected to so much pummeling from critics?

For now, Craig and Sean Connery remain the greatest two actors to ever banter with Moneypenny.

Netflix has emerged victorious in the bidding war for Lena Dunham’s new rom-com “Good Sex,” starring Natalie Portman.

The film was revealed to buyers at last month’s European Film Market by CAA Media Finance and FilmNation, and Netflix is now closing a worldwide deal around the $55 million mark — one of the largest to ever emerge from EFM.

“Girls” creator Dunham is set to write and direct “Good Sex,” which stars Portman as couple’s therapist Ally, who rejoins New York’s dating scene in her 40s after a decade-long relationship. “But Ally finds her life pulled in opposing directions as she falls into a steamy fling with a 20-something Brooklyn hipster just as she begins a promising, more conventional relationship with Alan, a successful 50-something in Manhattan,” the film’s synopsis reads. “As a romantic crossroads blossoms into a full-blown identity crisis, Ally juggles to keep these two...

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This March, Tubi is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the brilliant comedy-drama series Loudermilk to the beloved sci-fi drama series Timeless. However, for this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Tubi in the next month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the five best movies coming to Tubi in March 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (March 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92% Credit – Warner Bros.

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory is a musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart from a screenplay by Roald Dahl. Based on Dahl’s 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the 1971 film follows Charlie, a poor young boy who gets a chance to explore a famous but mysterious chocolate factory run by the eccentric Willy Wonka.

It is a morbid tradition of children’s fiction that parents must often be dispatched, as quickly and unsentimentally as possible, for the adventure to proceed — sometimes discreetly, or sometimes, as in Roald Dahl’s “James and the Giant Peach,” as violently as a rhinoceros attack in paragraph two. In storybook logic, such eliminations often enable a blithe sense of liberty for young protagonists; for the five siblings at the center of “The Devil Smokes (and Saves the Burnt Matches in the Same Box),” the disappearance of their parents cues a gradual collapse of reality as they know it, more frightening than freeing. Occupying an eerie, agitated middle ground between realism and unanchored dream logic, Mexican director Ernesto Martínez Bucio’s striking, deliciously titled debut effectively plunges its audience into child’s-eye confusion, without the safety net of an omniscient perspective.

Elliptical in its storytelling, but often piercingly precise in...

The Harry Potter universe is starting to shape up, as the first actor has been officially confirmed for the upcoming HBO TV series reboot. With John Lithgow set to play Professor Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming series, he also clarified something important: he wants to do the character justice.

Lithgow just confirmed in a recent interview with ScreenRant that he was going to become the new Professor Dumbledore, after the rumors that he was close to signing a deal broke out in mid-February. The actor has a long list of accolades and awards, but he was born in New York, US, instead of the UK or Ireland, the way some people would expect. In a new interview with Collider, the American actor clarified Dumbledore will be British.

Related'It's Quite Boring': Jason Isaacs Shared Why the Harry Potter Films 'Weren't Much Fun' to Film

The actor got very real about the magical part of the films.

After reports that HBO was circling John Lithgow to portray Professor Dumbledore in its upcoming “Harry Potter” series, the actor has confirmed in a new interview that he is indeed taking the role. He expressed his excitement and nervousness at committing to such a role for so many years.

“It came as a total surprise to me. I got the phone call at the Sundance Film Festival for yet another film, and it was not an easy decision, because it’s going to define me for the last chapter of my life, I’m afraid,” Lithgow told the fan site Screen Rant. “But I’m very excited. Some wonderful people are turning their attention back to ‘Harry Potter.'”

Lithgow was asked if he’s prepared to portray Dumbledore for seven seasons worth of television. Lithgow previously starred in six seasons of the sitcom “3rd Rock from the Sun,” which...

You tend to notice a lot of familiar names, places, and events throughout the work of Stephen King, and that's by design. The horror maestro has carefully constructed a universe that ties most of his iconographies within the same plane of existence, especially if they involve the words "Castle Rock" or "The Dark Tower." In this case, that kind of interconnectivity also presents an opportunity for fans to impart their own head canon not just with King landmarks, but other pop culture mainstays as well.

In today's course of internet fan theory, telekinesis gone wrong is the name of the game. We're gonna be looking at one that attempts to merge King's book "Carrie," a tale about the ultimate horror prom queen, with the Roald Dahl novel "Matilda," a story about an inquisitive young girl whose abilities don't lead to quite as much bloodshed. One Redditor has claimed the two...

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When James Bond made his big-screen debut in 1962 with "Dr. No," the world was a decidedly different place than it is now. The United States and the Soviet Union were none-too-quietly waging the Cold War (the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred during 007's first month in theaters), the Civil Rights Movement was challenging systemic racism all over America, and women were fighting for equal pay and control over their own bodies. Perhaps "decidedly" is a touch strong.

As the world grappled with massive political and social upheaval, the movies did what they do best and sent a mess of mixed messages. The industry has always taken seriously its role as a beacon of hope and enlightenment, but, this being a business, filmmakers have never shied away from trafficking in hoary, hurtful stereotypes provided they earned a big enough pop from the audience.

Gene Wilder's impressive career boasts starring roles in Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, and The Little Prince. He was also iconic in the cult classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, soon streaming on Tubi.

Tubi will stream Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory for free starting Mar. 1. The 1971 movie adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now a beloved classic, all thanks to Gene Wilder's version of the main antagonist. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was a box office disappointment when it was released, grossing $4 million against its $3 million budget; interest for the film waned until the 1980s, when repeated TV broadcasts fueled a resurgence. The film made a successful comeback in 1996, earning $21 million from its 25th anniversary theatrical re-release.

Related10 Best Quotes From Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, Ranked

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a beloved film that is full of memorable characters,...