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Former President Joe Biden did not recognize George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser, according to an upcoming book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson.

The 64-year-old actor reportedly greeted the 82-year-old former President of the United States backstage before the fundraiser, arriving after a 3-day trip to Italy for the G7 conference.

The president appeared “severely diminished, as if he’d aged a decade since Clooney last saw him in December 2022,” the authors wrote, as featured in an excerpt in the New Yorker.

“You know George,” the assisting aide reportedly told the president, gently reminding him who was in front of him.

Keep reading to find out more…

“Yeah, yeah,” the president said to George, who was the host of this lucrative fundraiser. “Thank you for being here.”

“It seemed clear that the President had not recognized Clooney,” the authors wrote.

The excerpt was published from their new book,...

When Joe Biden arrived at a heavily promoted, record-breaking fundraiser in Los Angeles last year, he didn’t appear to recognize one of the star co-hosts of the event: George Clooney.

The moment was detailed in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, to be published next week.

In an excerpt in The New Yorker, Tapper and Thompson detail the scene at a pre-fundraiser clutch, as Clooney and Julia Roberts, another co-host, entertained high-dollar donors while waiting for Biden to arrive.

They write that the President said “thank you for being here” to guests as he shuffled past them. “Clooney felt a knot form in his stomach as the President approached him. Biden looked at him. ‘Thank you for being here,’ he said. ‘Thank you for being here.'”

“‘You know George,’ the assisting aide told the President,...

Airplane! is generally considered to be one of the greatest movie comedies of all-time. The sequel, which introduced William Shatner and a bomb-wielding Sonny Bono to the franchise, not so much.

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The steep drop in quality can be explained by the fact that Airplane II: The Sequel was helmed by Canadian comedy writer Ken Finkleman, and not the original filmmaking team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker.

Well, it turns out that Zaz did offer to helm a follow-up to Airplane!, but their plans were torpedoed by legendary director and wine magnate Francis Ford Coppola.

David Zucker recently sat for an interview with right-wing YouTuber, and star of the “South Park of X,” Dave Rubin. Zucker discussed how Zaz was approached by Paramount to make Airplane II, and they even put together a pitch that would have picked up right after the events of the original film.

Deadline’s Most Valuable Blockbuster tournament has returned, and as you’ll see from the most profitable films of 2024 that we’re about to disclose, a movie’s game doesn’t end at the box office. Rather, its downstream revenues and subsequent home windows must be taken into account. Streaming continues to be a wildcard: While traditional motion picture studios such as Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, Paramount and Universal rely on lucrative pay two and pay three streamer deals to catapult their slates into the black, those streamers who’ve embraced theatrical (specifically Amazon MGM Studios and Apple Original Films) have a clandestine metric as to how they evaluate a movie’s post-cinema success. By traditional studio P&l standards, some of those releases would be considered flops. Given that, Apple and Amazon are excluded from this year’s survey. The Most Valuable Blockbuster series runs later rather than sooner as...

Veteran producer Miky Lee of Cj Group is set to deliver the 2025 commencement address for the USC School of Cinematic Art, the university announced today.

Lee will give her speech at the graduation ceremony held at the Shrine Auditorium on Friday, May 16. She was initially scheduled to appear at last year’s ceremony, but pushed due to scheduling issues, we’re told. She joins a list of luminaries who have fulfilled this duty at USC that includes Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, Matt Reeves, Jon M. Chu, Paul Feig, Jim Gianopulos, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Donna Langley, Barry Meyer, Sumner Redstone, Jay Roach, Stacey Sher and Laura Ziskin.

Also set to speak is Sca alumnus and Wicked director Jon M. Chu, who will talk at the main, university-wide commencement ceremony taking place at the Los Angeles Memorial Colosseum at 7:00 p.m. on May 15, as previously announced.

Commenting on Lee’s selection as speaker,...

If you’re looking for new movies to stream, you’ve come to the right place. April brings a host of new films to streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Max, Prime Video, Disney+ and Paramount+, and we’ve whittled down the list of what’s new on each to the best of the best. That includes a buzzy A24 movie starring Nicole Kidman, an action film starring Viola Davis as the President of the United States, yet another action movie starring Tom Hardy from the director of “The Raid” and a film all about late ’90s nostalgia. Plus so much more.

Check out our picks for the best new movies streaming in April below.

“Banger” Netflix

Netflix – April 2

One of the most fun movies of 2025, “Banger” is the feature directorial debut of So Me, a French animator, graphic designer and filmmaker, who you probably know from his work with Ed Banger Records,...

Disney’s A Goofy Movie was unlike any of the studio’s previous animated features. The 1995 release attempted to combine the slapstick zaniness of Goofy with the drama of adolescent angst. To this day, it’s the only Disney movie that opens with an intensely horny body horror nightmare sequence.

The big-screen adaptation of TV’s Goof Troop didn’t do much business at the box office, but it eventually became a cult classic thanks to home video. Although it’s hard to imagine that the movie would be quite so beloved today if Goofy had sounded like a 50-year-old Steve Martin.

The production of A Goofy Movie is now the subject of a new documentary: Not Just a Goof. The doc, which was produced independently but is now streaming on Disney+, doesn’t shy away from depicting the Mouse House’s corporate blunders. Specifically, there’s a segment focusing...

One of the most iconic (yet underrated) Disney movies of the '90s was A Goofy Movie, and yesterday marked it's 30th anniversary. So, naturally, Disney had to go all out and remind us just why it's such a "stand-out" film.

We've seen tons of merch, the resurgence of Powerline, and much more, but Disney surprised us all by reuniting our favorite pair of Goofs, Bill Farmer (Goofy) and Jason Marsden (Max) for a zany road trip down memory lane!

Disney's voice actors remember going Goofy

Bill Farmer and Jason Marsden have been the performers behind a wide variety of iconic characters, but the roles that will stick with them forever are as Goofy and Max in A Goofy Movie and other pieces of Disney media. However, the footage below shares a more intimate look at the film from its two leads.

As pointed out in the video, Farmer and...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"'A Goofy Movie' is probably the most unexpected Disney film to have ever garnered cult classic status." Those are the words of Lex Briscuso writing for /Film in 2022, and she had a point. Released in 1995, the film is centered on Goofy, who was, for decades, a supporting character in the larger Disney animated universe. Yet, 30 years ago, he got to take center stage in a theatrical feature film that is a father/son tale, a road trip comedy, a musical, a love story, and at times perhaps the best animated concert film ever made.

It runs in defiance of what we often associate with a classic Disney animated movie. It also resonated with the generation of '90s kids who grew up with it,...

Val Kilmer’s career was defined by transformative performances in films like Top Gun and Tombstone. However, the genius of the late Hollywood star extended beyond live-action roles to remarkable voice roles, most notably as Moses in one of the greatest animation films of all time, The Prince of Egypt.

Dreamworks’ epic musical drama needed an actor who could convey strength, vulnerability, and divine purpose, and Kilmer delivered on all fronts. His performance, praised for its depth and emotional nuance, became one of the standout aspects of the movie that pushed the boundaries of animated storytelling.

The Prince of Egypt | Credit: DreamWorks The Prince of Egypt directors praised Val Kilmer’s performance

The 1998 classic animated film The Prince of Egypt stands as a testament to the power of creative collaboration, pushing the boundaries of what animated films could achieve.

DreamWorks set out to elevate the medium beyond established norms, assembling...

Exclusive: Asia’s top five micro-drama apps reached a cumulative total of 150 million monthly active users (Mau) in February, while China-based companies achieved significant growth in the genre over the last year, according to an Omdia report.

Apps such Dramabox, Goodshort, Reelshort and Shortmax – which offer episodes lasting for around 60 to 90 seconds – have also experienced significant growth in the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil and even the U.S.

For example, Dramabox has seen 2,550% app store revenue growth year-on-year, while Shortmax experienced 3,888% growth. According to Omdia’s analysis of Sensor Tower data, DramaBox’s app store revenue (across 84 markets) increased from $8M in 2023 to $217M in 2024, while ReelShort app store revenue grew from $36M in 2023 to $214M in 2024.

Micro-dramas are emerging as a key growth area amid a maturing video and streaming market in Asia, with significantly lower production costs and shorter production cycles. Some micro-drama producers have also turned to AI...

Today, it’s about lights, camera, and vroom—because we’re set to talk about the seven-time Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton’s Hollywood ambition—his film and TV production company Dawn Apollo Films. It all began in late 2022 when Hamilton set his sights on Hollywood as his future plan after retiring from his racing career.

Proving to be a maestro (not just behind the wheel), Lewis Hamilton began steering his own production company straight into the glitzy world of movies.

Lewis Hamilton in Drive to Survive Season 3 finale | image: Netflix

And now, after 3 years into the business, the F1 champ has already scored two high-profile projects—one with Brad Pitt and the other is a feature documentary on Hamilton’s own journey. So, let’s check out more about Hamilton’s silver screen ambitions.

Lewis Hamilton’s comments about his production company

All this while the world knew Lewis Hamilton...

Disney’s Rachel Zegler- and Gal Gadot-starring Snow White is headed to an estimated loss of $115 million after all global home entertainment, TV and Disney+ ancillaries, according to distribution sources Monday. The loss, which was expected, is based on a final worldwide box office of $225M.

Broken down, the global cume is based on a possible $100M take at the domestic box office, which is under the $115M gross of 2019’s Dumbo (another live-action remake of a classic Disney animated feature), and a $125M overseas total. Snow White, which hit theaters March 21, ended its second U.S. weekend Sunday with $14.2M — off 66%, steeper than Dumbo and the Maleficent movies — and $36.3M global, for a running worldwide cume of $143.1M.

Snow White per our forecasts will clear $295M in revenues from $101M in global film rentals, $62M in worldwide home entertainment, $130M in streaming and TV revenues, and $2M from merchandise.

Every once in a while, a movie makes so much money that it totally shakes up the film industry. This instance is especially true when a genre many considered dead and buried comes along and makes some serious cash. This rarity happened in a big way back in 1999 when American Pie, a movie that cost $11 million, made $235 million worldwide. Think about it – the biggest star in the film was Eugene Levy. More than that – it was a teen sex comedy. That genre played out in the early eighties when Porky’s was such a big hit that every studio decided to make a sex comedy, and pretty much all of them tanked – especially the multiple Porky‘s sequels. Teen sex comedies were replaced by John Hughes’s brand of more thoughtful teen comedies, only for that genre to fall off as well. A year before, Sony made a John Hughes-style teen comedy,...

Quick LinksSebastian in Disney’s The Little Mermaid Originally Had a Different AccentOne of Disney’s Lead Animators Was Initially Unhappy With an Iconic SequenceWalt Disney Wanted to Make The Little Mermaid in His Lifetime

The Little Mermaid was a hallmark film for Disney. It introduced a new Disney Princess to audiences and was a financial boon for the studio in 1989. The Little Mermaid also successfully rebooted the Disney musical, a formula the studio had moved away from in previous years. It was also the first Disney film to which songwriting team Howard Ashman and Alan Menken lent their talents. Some might argue that a more perfect Disney film could not have been made.

It may be hard to believe that the final vision for The Little Mermaid was a long time coming. Walt Disney had originally envisioned the film being made in his lifetime. And even some of the...

10 interesting facts about Julia Roberts & Richard Gere’s Pretty Woman(Photo Credit –Prime Video)

Pretty Woman is a movie ahead of its time. Released back on March 23, 1990, the film has stepped onto its 35th year in 2025, marking a milestone. While Richard Gere played Edward, a wealthy businessman, Vivian portrayed a prostitute in the rom-com. As per the storyline, Edward hires Vivian but falls miserably for her in the process. Since its release, Pretty Woman has been a cult classic in every sense.

But did you know before Julia and Richard got their parts, there were other actors in the race too, including Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sandra Bullock, and Sarah Jessica? Yes, that’s right. There are more interesting facts about the movie. As it turned 35 this year, we have listed 10 such fun facts revolving around the film. Scroll ahead to find out.

In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair, screenwriter...

The animation industry in Asia has expanded significantly in recent years and has a key role to play in boosting the entertainment sector in coming years. Mainland China in particular, where animation has been given a major lift by the success of “Ne Zha 2”, which has taken over $2 billion and become the highest-grossing animated film in history, and the fifth-highest-grossing film ever.

“’Ne Zha’ is going to be the best performing animation in the world – in the future we will see a bigger role for Chinese animation and big box office is awaiting us,” Catherine Ying, president of Pearl Studios, told a panel on the animation industry at Hong Kong FilMart.

“Ne Zha 2” is based on “Journey to the West,” one of China’s four great classical novels, and toon houses in China are likely to mine ancient texts for further content. Pearl is expecting to release “Eight...

Emmy-winning actor John Lithgow reveals that he almost missed out on his role in a five-time Oscar-winning movie due to scheduling conflicts with Footloose. Lithgow first rose to prominence with a role in Brian De Palma's Obsession before scoring his breakout role in The World According to Garp, for which he received an Oscar nomination. His filmography is diverse, with the actor enjoying acclaim for early roles before branching into comedy with films like Harry and the Hendersons.Lithgow later expanded to villainous roles in movies like Cliffhanger and Raising Cain.

In addition to movies, Lithgow has enjoyed success on the small screen, winning Primetime Emmy Awards for roles in 3rd Rock From the Sun, Dexter, and The Crown. He remains one of the most prominent and respected film and TV actors in the industry. One of Lithgow's most beloved roles came as Reverend Shaw Moore in Kevin Bacon's musical drama Footloose,...

J.D. Salinger's 1951 book "The Catcher in the Rye" might be one of the most widely read American novels ever. Its protagonist, the 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, has become a model for adolescent angst, constantly expressing his disgust for the world and calling everyone and everything he objects to "phony." He feels he can still connect with certain individuals as he comes of age, notably younger kids, but that he is growing distant from the rest of the world. When asked what he wants to do with his life, Holden pictures a fantasy wherein he stands in a field of rye situated on top of a cliff. As children play in the rye, it's his job to catch them before they fall off the precipice. He is the catcher in the rye.

Salinger's book has been widely scrutinized and reinterpreted. It's as celebrated for its understanding of angst as it is pilloried for its nihilism,...

It's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since the new millennium, bringing new technology, evolving social change, and, of course, spectacular movies. The stage for the 2000s was set with titles premiering in 2000, featuring fresh comedies, stunning animated films, and captivating dramas.

Many of these films have made a significant impact on cinema and are still consistently referenced and quoted today. Each film is unique in its own way and has served as inspiration for countless other films that parallel their cinematic perspective and narrative structure.

The Road to El Dorado Helped Launch DreamWorks as an Animation Staple Released March 31, 2000

Founded by legendary director Steven Spielberg, American film producer David Geffen, and former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks is known as one of the most prominent animation studios of the 21st century. Responsible for the Shrek and How to Train Your Dragon franchise, in addition to many other impactful films,...

The Beast's human form is reimagined in a new piece ofBeauty and the Beast art. The influential 1991 Disney animated feature followed a young woman named Belle who is held by a terrifying beast in his castle, only to uncover his true self as she spends time with him. In Beauty and the Beast, the titular monster voiced by Robby Benson was a vain, self-centered prince who was cursed alongside his loyal staff by a sorceress for his unkindness, and only true love could break the spell.

Artist @BleydhDu on X/Twitter recently shared their own reimagining of Disney's Beauty and the Beast, envisioning how they feel the Beast should truly look when restored to a human. As opposed to the long-haired, cleanly shaven man who was originally designed for the movie, this version of the human Beast is built closer to his monstrous form, with a beard and similar facial structure.

Carl Kurlander is a screenwriter (St. Elmo’s Fire) who served as a writer-producer for four of Peter Engel’s NBC series. He also teaches at the University of Pittsburgh, where he has made a series of documentaries including the birth of educational television and how AI is poised to transform the way young people learn. He was mentored by Peter Engel, the man behind the TV fixture Saved by the Bell, who died last week. Here, Kurlander contrasts the wildly different paths taken by Engel and Fred Rogers that led each to generate programming that helped kids cope.

Making Good Attractive: How Peter Engel and Fred Rogers Shaped Young Minds Through Television

I was stunned to hear Peter Engel passed away recently at 88, though he lived a long and interesting life. When I worked for Peter in the 1990s at NBC, he was introduced to crowds before Saved by the Bell...

Entertainment tech company Gathr has announced a full Api (Application Performance Interface) integration with Artinii.Pro, a software service aimed at secure delivery and exhibition of films worldwide. Gathr and Artinii.Pro’s new collaboration combines film booking, event management, ticketing, and exhibition into a “fully automated system for non-theatrical screenings.”

“This partnership exemplifies Gathr’s mission to remove the barrier between storyteller and audience by empowering filmmakers, connecting audiences, and transforming how independent films are experienced globally,” said Gathr founder and CEO Scott Glosserman. “Our unique approach ensures that even in countries where certain web browsers and third-party video players are restricted, audiences can still host screenings and engage with impactful content.”

Films slated for global screenings and discussions under the new collaboration include Monument Releasing’s “Dinner in America,” Vanessa Hope’s “Invisible Nation,” and Stephen Maing’s “Union.”

Friday, March 7 Marc Maron Documentary ‘Are We Good?’ to...

Keith Le Goy, recently promoted to chairman of Sony Pictures Television, has been unveiled as a keynote speaker at the upcoming Banff World Media Festival.

Le Goy, who has been with the studio for over 25 years and earlier served as president of distribution for Sony Pictures TV, in January took up the top post at the division. He succeeded Ravi Ahuja, who moved up to president and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment after the departure of Tony Vinciquerra.

In his new post, Le Goy oversees all of Sony’s domestic and international TV production, including the studio’s game show business (which includes Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune) and cable outlet Gsn.

Le Goy will speak as part of the 2025 Banff Summit Series at the June 8–11 media festival in Banff, Alberta against an industry backdrop of post-2023 strikes doldrums, artificial intelligence dangers and other TV sector headwinds. Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi,...

James Lamont and Jon Foster of Paddington In Peru fame are to work on a feature-length, AI-generated family fantasy called Critterz.

Look, we hate to keep banging on about this generative AI thing, but the industry’s decided it’s here to say, seemingly, so we’d best keep reporting about it.

The writers of Paddington In Peru, James Lamont and Jon Foster, are to work on the feature-length version of a film called Critterz. First emerging in 2023 and made by Chad Nelson, Critterz had the distinction of being one of the first animated shorts made using Dall.E – OpenAI’s software which generates images (both moving or otherwise) from pre-existing work on the internet.

The result is a kind of creepy mix of Monsters Inc and Where The Wild Things Are, with an assortment of creatures lurking, glassy-eyed, in a woodland setting. You can watch the whole thing below if you’re so inclined.

People talk about Moonlighting all the time, but it had once been impossible to go back and watch the dramedy starring Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd as a detective and out-of-work model whose will they/won’t they romance helped change relationships on television. Now, it’s on Hulu (since October 2023), and getting it there was a feat, but one that creator Glenn Gordon Caron had been trying to make happen for a while. “I [once] said to Jeffrey Katzenberg when he was at Disney, ‘Is there any way I could buy the negatives from you?'” he recalled to TV Insider for the release. The hold-up: the music. “In five seasons, I think we only did 66 shows. We used 300 songs. The idea of going back and renegotiating with all those people when effectively they have you over a barrel was not something any studio was looking forward to,” he explained.

Jerry Seinfeld has spent decades perfecting the art of observational comedy, dissecting the absurdities of everyday life with pinpoint precision. He’s the guy who made us question why we park in driveways and drive on parkways.

The man turned nothing into something, literally, with his legendary sitcom about, well, nothing. But even the best joke-writers have their moments of unpredictability. One minute, you’re at a casual dinner, the next, you’re leading a multi-million-dollar animated blockbuster about talking insects.

Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld | Credits: NBC

That’s just how things unfold when you’re Jerry Seinfeld. You crack a joke, and instead of polite chuckles or a friendly nod, you get Hollywood moguls scrambling to make it a reality. Forget auditioning for roles or pitching scripts, just have dinner with the right people, and you might find yourself with a movie deal before dessert.

Jerry Seinfeld, Steven Spielberg,...

The past decade has seen some surprisingly high-profile films cancelled, shelved, axed or scrapped. Here they are – all 10 of the poor things.

Film history is littered with abandoned productions, false starts and projects that have withered on the creative vine. What is relatively unusual, though, is for a movie to get through weeks of shooting only for it to be axed at the editing stage.

When we consider how much work goes into a film production before a camera even rolls – casting, building sets, securing locations – the notion that a film could be scrapped at such a late stage seems almost inconceivable. Particularly given that, in the past, films have survived genuine tragedies – The Twilight Zone, The Crow – and still made their way into cinemas.

Over the past decade, however, we’ve seen a number of high-profile films shelved or scrapped. In some instances, they’ve been brought low by...

Disney's eclectic lineup of female characters has undergone many changes over the years. Their earlier female protagonists, most often princesses, emanated more traditional notions of feminity through their manners, attire, and interests. More recently, Disney has been criticized for creating negative role models for girls to look up to, as many of these characters, even with their admirable qualities, are often saved or guided by the influence of a man. Disney heroines of today are known for their quirky personalities, sometimes irrational behavior, and strong will and inclination to do what's right.

A lot of these characters still retain aspects of conventional feminity, such as wearing dresses and showing genuine kindness to those around them. What's different is the emphasis on their intellect and self-reliance, which is often centralized in the story, moving away from the typical Disney princess archetype. These contemporary Disney princesses are absolutely outstanding role models, but...

The first three Shrek movies have once again found themselves in the Netflix global Top 10. As of this writing, Shrek sits at number two, Shrek 2 is at number four, and Shrek the Third is at number eight. While none have yet to crack Netflix's United States top 10 chart, it proves that the animated classics are beloved by audiences worldwide.

When Shrek opened in 2001, it was one of DreamWorks Skg's earliest animated films. The studio was launched in 1994 by Hollywood and music legends Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen. It was seismic, as it was the first major studio in decades and featured three of the most powerful people in entertainment. Spielberg was coming off the dual successes of Schindler's List and Jurassic Park, Katzenberg had turned around Disney's animated film division, and Geffen was one of the biggest music moguls on the planet.

The first animated movies that...

Joe Hale, who spent 35 years as an animator, layout artist and producer at Disney and received an Oscar nomination for his effects work on the 1979 film The Black Hole, has died. He was 99.

Hale died Jan. 29 of natural causes at his home in Atascadero, California, his wife of nearly 60 years, Beverly Hale, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Hale started out as an inbetweener on Alice in Wonderland (1951) and worked on such other classics as Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), Sleeping Beauty (1959), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), The Jungle Book (1967), The Fox and the Hound (1981), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Pete’s Dragon (1977).

In 1980, Hale was named a first-time producer on The Black Cauldron (1985), a project that had been languishing at Disney for about seven years, and he oversaw a staff of 300 artists — including a young Tim Burton — and a big budget of $44 million.

When some children found scenes in the...

The 1990s saw Hollywood studios make a rush to 3D animation in the wake of Toy Story. But in the process, it abandoned decades of hand drawn artistry.

When Ron Clements and John Musker got the greenlight to make The Princess And The Frog at Walt Disney Animation Studios, they faced a problem.

Appreciating some hand-drawn animation had been done for the slightly earlier Disney production, Enchanted, remarkably Disney had to outsource those segments as it didn’t have the internal resources to bring them to life. When it then decided to attempt a hand drawn animated film for the first time in over a decade, the apparatus to do so was all but gone.

“They had gotten rid of many of the machines, even the animation desk that had lightboards in them,” co-director John Musker told me on the press tour for The Princess And The Frog in 2009. “They...

Sunday Am Writethru: Dog Man provided the first sign of life to the 2025 box office this weekend with an opening that now stands at $36M.

That’s the second biggest opening for a January animated title of all time after DreamWorks Animation’s 2016 Kung Fu Panda 3 ($41.8M) and it’s the third consecutive No. 1 debut for Dwa after Kung Fu Panda 4 and The Wild Robot, as well as the 26th Dwa title to open at No. 1 stateside for the studio that Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen originally founded.

“Dog Man is an incredibly charming film from our partners at Dreamworks Animation who excel at storytelling for all ages. The box office this weekend and the reaction that audiences of all ages are having to Dog Man point to a very long, successful run this spring,” beamed Universal Domestic Distribution Chief Jim Orr.

According to PostTrak, 45% bought...

The concept of reference points in animation is common if you're in the know, but might surprise folks who don't have much experience with or knowledge of the history of the medium. Even the greatest and most talented illustrators have to start somewhere when creating a character, and it's no different for the craftspeople working for Walt Disney Animation Studios. In the early eras of Disney animation, reference points were often live actors or animals. In the cases of "Bambi" and "Dumbo," for example, if you check out the 1941 film "The Reluctant Dragon" (a movie that was itself bizarrely censored for one particular animated detail), you can see animators literally watching how deer and elephants move so they can accurately capture those minute details in designing the titular characters. 

As the world approached the 21st century, however, Disney animators started to look not just to real people, but to specifically...

In 1993, "Super Mario Bros." became the first live-action feature film to be based on a video game. It didn't go well. Budgeted at somewhere just south of $50 million, "Super Mario Bros." grossed a meager $20 million in the United States and performed poorly overseas. Its failure was essentially a fait accompli given the behind-the-scenes turmoil that found directors Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton briefly getting locked out of the editing room, but the film itself was the kind of Hollywood debacle that was too weird to disregard. The production design was striking, the creature effects inventive, and the casting utterly bizarre. Bob Hoskins as Mario facing off against Dennis Hopper as King Koopa? This might not seem outré today, but at the time it was bizarre to see respected actors seemingly slumming in what many considered to be a glorified piece of advertising.

As a fervent gamer at the time, I found it odd.

Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed $1 million to help communities devastated by recent wildfires in Los Angeles, pledging support to three key relief organizations amid a crisis that has claimed at least 27 lives.

The former California governor announced his substantial contribution on social media, dividing the donation equally among the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, California Fire Foundation, and Los Angeles Habitat for Humanity. In a personal statement, Schwarzenegger emphasized his direct approach, saying, “I don’t like when companies or rich people ask their fans to make their donations for them.”

As part of his relief initiative, Schwarzenegger also launched an “LA Strong” t-shirt modeled after Venice boardwalk merchandise, with 100% of proceeds going to the same charitable organizations.

But I know you want to help. So I had my team design a shirt. 100% of the profits will go to those organizations. The shirt might look familiar – it’s based...

Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a $1 million donation to Los Angeles fire relief on Tuesday.

“I don’t like when companies or rich people ask their fans to make their donations for them,” the actor wrote on social media. His donation will be split between the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation, the California Fire Foundation and the L.A. chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

Schwarzenegger also acknowledged that many of his fans have asked him how they can help, and he is therefore selling a shirt based on the knockoff bodybuilding T-shirts that many vendors sell on the Venice Boardwalk.

The Terminator star will donate 100 percent of the shirt’s proceeds to the same three organizations as his personal donation. Schwarzenegger is one of many to chip in big dollar signs for Los Angeles fire relief; DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife Marilyn pledged $5 million to the Motion Picture & Television Foundation on Wednesday.

The Katzenbergs are stepping up for film and TV workers who were impacted by the L.A. wildfires.

Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg are donating $5 million to the Motion Picture and Television Fund, which has been supporting requests for aid with financial assistance for rent, house payments and medical bills. It has also helped to navigate insurance needs for working and retired industry members, as well as providing access to resources with other organizations.

“The wildfire devastation is unlike anything Los Angeles has ever faced, and we must act urgently to help people in immediate need,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg in a statement. “Marilyn and I are heartbroken for our friends and colleagues whose lives have been turned upside down, especially in the industry that has meant so much to us, and we hope our contribution can help provide comfort and resources in this moment.”

“As we’ve seen over the past few years,...

Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg are pledging major resources to L.A.’s wildfire relief efforts.

The DreamWorks co-founder and his wife have donated $5 million to the Motion Picture & Television Foundation, the charitable organization that operates a retirement home for entertainment workers and provides an array of social services for the industry. The MPTF’s chairman of the board of directors, former Paramount Pictures CEO Jim Gianopulos, announced the news on Wednesday.

“The wildfire devastation is unlike anything Los Angeles has ever faced, and we must act urgently to help people in immediate need,” Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement. “Marilyn and I are heartbroken for our friends and colleagues whose lives have been turned upside down, especially in the industry that has meant so much to us, and we hope our contribution can help provide comfort and resources in this moment.”

Jeffrey Katzenberg, known to be a savvy fundraiser, worked...

Tubi CEO Anjali Sud is set to keynote the Banff World Media Festival, organizers said on Wednesday.

Sud in Sept. 2023 took the helm at Fox’s free, ad-supported streamer after taking over from Tubi founder Farhad Massoudi. She is the first confirmed keynote speaker for Banff’s annual Summit Series at the festival’s upcoming 46th edition, which will run from June 8 to 11 in Alberta, Canada’s Rocky Mountains.

Tubi in early January reported it had surpassed 97 million monthly active users. That’s a jump from more than 78 million MAUs posted in mid-2024. The streaming platform, which launched in 2014, also said it streamed over 10 billion streaming hours in the 2024 calendar year.

Sud is expected to talk about her company’s latest growth spurt as Tubi fends off competition in the Fast (Free Ad-Supported Streaming Television) space from top rivals like Pluto TV and Roku Channel, and the service has expanded...

The Banff World Media Festival has named Anjali Sud as the first keynote speaker for its 2025 Banff Summit Series.

The Tubi CEO will take to the stage during the Canadian event, which is held at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff on June 8-11.

Since launching in 2019, the Summit Series has developed into fest’s lead track, spotlighting industry leaders and transformative thinkers in the media and entertainment sectors. Sud, whose free TV and movie streaming platform has over 80 million active monthly viewers, will provide insight into the streaming landscape and color on how her service became one of the fastest-growing platforms in the world.

“Audiences around the globe increasingly value a premium entertainment experience that is also 100% free, fun and reflective of culture,” said Sud. “Tubi has built a large and growing fanbase by putting viewers first, and I’m excited to share our perspective at the Banff World Media Festival this year.

Shrek fans get some disappointing news as the film suffers a major setback.

Per Deadline, the fifth entry in the long-running Shrek feature film franchise has been pushed back by Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Animation. Previously slated for a July 1, 2026 release date, Shrek 5 will instead now be arriving in theaters on December 23, 2026, instead.

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Related Get Out Of My Swamp: 30 Best Quotes From Shrek That Fans Still Quote Today

The Shrek franchise made a huge impact on viewing audiences, leaving fans with plenty of quotes from Shrek and many other characters in the films.

Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 picture book, Shrek!, which follows an overtly repulsive monster who lives in a swamp as he traverses the countryside and unexpectedly finding love, 2001's Shrek kicked off what quickly became a multimedia pop culture sensation. Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow, the...

Media veterans Jeffrey Katzenberg and Linda Yaccarino offered starkly different reactions to Meta’s decision to stop fact-checking Facebook and Instagram in separate appearances at CES.

Mark Zuckerberg’s move, announced earlier Tuesday, is widely seen as a bow to pressure from Donald Trump. The reaction to the president-elect and others on the right, who believe social media has censored conservative voices, was a topic at separate CES conversations on two different stages Tuesday in Las Vegas.

Katzenberg, during an appearance at a sidebar conference organized by industry ad consortium OpenAP, said the move by Mark Zuckerberg would only worsen the slide of social media into a sketchy place, opening the door to competition. “There’s no control, there’s no boundaries,” he said. “It’s whatever people want to do, and since we know today a single voice has a megaphone that reaches the world, if you don’t...

In addition to its main purpose as a showcase for the latest gadgets, CES has long been a meeting ground for entertainment players.

This year’s edition, getting under way Monday in Las Vegas, will be no exception and is unfolding amid an elevated sense of urgency for traditional media companies to get right with the lords of technology. With theatrical box office and linear television in decline and layoffs continuing to thin the industry’s ranks, tech provides in some ways a welcome source of optimism despite its many complications and a culture still distinct from Hollywood’s.

On top of CES mainstays like Sony, Panasonic and other hardware firms holding court again with massive booths, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and SAG-AFTRA are among those with a presence. NBCUniversal, Amazon, Roku and Fox Corp. are among many making announcements and having execs on panels. Two of the confab’s...

Quick Links After Decades of Success, the Walt Disney Company Turned to New Leadership Michael Eisner's Leadership Created Division and Roy E. Disney Went to War By Abandoning ABC, Bob Iger Let Lloyd Braun Turn the Network Around As Leadership Changed at Disney, Lost Became a Mega-Hit That Changed Television

The 20th anniversary of Lost's debut has fans across the world celebrating the unlikely hit series about survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island. What makes Lost even more unlikely is it owes its existence to a larger corporate war at the Walt Disney Company. As executives jockeyed for power, ABC's Lloyd Braun bet everything on the show's success. He was right, but it didn't save his job. The most important thing about Lost's creation is the faith Braun had in the idea. He essentially lifted the title from a failed reality TV series, and...

Content Warning: The following article contains spoilers.In the world of animation, there have been few instances of rapid success like the rise of DreamWorks. Formed in 1994 by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, the studio helped to cement the rise of CGI animated films with the release of Shrek, which became the first winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The Shrek franchise has also become the second highest-grossing animated franchise behind Despicable Me.

Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg’s black-and-white Holocaust epic of 1993, will be streaming very soon. What’s on Netflix reports that the war film will stream on everyone’s favorite platform on New Year’s Day.

Starting January 1, Netflix subscribers will be able to revisit the widely lauded film by Spielberg. In 1994, Schindler’s List was the awards darling of the season and remains the only Spielberg film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Nominated for 12 Oscars, the film won seven: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, and Best Art Direction.

Schindler’s List takes viewers to Europe as the Third Reich advances to invade the entire continent. The Jewish community became the victim of genocide when the Nazis came up with concentration camps, forcing the few survivors to hard labor.

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The internet is filled with facts, both true and otherwise. In Film Trivia Fact Check, we’ll browse the depths of the web’s most user-generated trivia boards and wikis and put them under the microscope. How true are the IMDb Trivia pages? You want the truth? Can you handle the truth?...

UK short film festival Encounters will return in 2025, having cancelled its 2024 edition due to funding challenges.

The Bristol-based event will take place from September 24-28, 2025, for its 30th edition. Veteran festivals and event producer Dave Taylor-Matthews has joined Encounters as executive director.

Originally scheduled for September 27-30, the 2024 edition was cancelled in April this year due to Brexit-fuelled funding issues, with doubt cast over future editions.

Submissions for the 2025 edition will open tomorrow, for live action, animated, documentary or experimental films of under 40 mins in length.

To account for the cancellation of the 2024 edition, films completed on or after...

In today's eyes, A Bug's Life is just one of the many films made by Disney and Pixar, but back in the late '90s, the film was a huge deal, being the second or third CG-animated film to ever be made. That's also not the only thing important to know about the animated film. A Bug's Life was also responsible for starting a feud between two major studios: Disney and DreamWorks.

Around the same time Disney was developing A Bug's Life with Pixar Animation Studios, DreamWorks announced that they were making Antz, a similar bug movie with an almost identical premise. It would also be fully computer-generated. The two bug movies were in direct competition with each other, and so were the studios behind them. With no one seeming to be interested in backing out of the race, the feud between Pixar and DreamWorks intensified.

A Bug's Life Started...