The singer is accused of grooming, sexually assaulting and impregnating 16-year-old Julia Misley in the 1970s. The suit, first filed in 2022 in Torrance, claims he “used his role, status, and power as a well-known musician and rock star” to exploit Misley. The complaint also argues Tyler admitted to the alleged crimes in his own memoir, “Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?,” where he refers to her as his “teen bride.”
Earlier this week, a judge dismissed most of the case, citing the statute of limitations in Massachusetts, where the pair lived during their three-year relationship. But they allegedly crossed state lines while Tyler toured the country with his band, including to California, according to the complaint. Because of California’s Child Victims Act — a 2020 statute that allowed a “lookback window” where alleged victims can file lawsuits regardless of a statute of limitations — a portion of the case will still be tried.
“This is a massive win for Steven Tyler. Today, the Court has dismissed with prejudice 99.9% of the claims against Mr. Tyler in this case,” Tyler’s lawyer, David Long-Daniels, said in a statement to The Times. “The court has decided that only one night, 50-plus years ago, out of a three-year relationship is allowed to remain.”
New York has a similar statute that was recently employed by singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in her case against Sean Combs. She filed a sex-trafficking and sexual assault lawsuit against the music mogul in 2023, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, just days before the expiration of a lookback window.
The lawsuit against Tyler, who previously appeared as a judge on “American Idol,” claims he and Misley first met at an Aerosmith concert in 1973. According to the document, he “performed various acts of criminal sexual conduct upon Plaintiff that night.” At the time, Tyler was in his mid-20s and Julia was 16.
The alleged encounter was the first of many, the lawsuit claims. In 1974, Tyler was named Misley’s legal guardian and took her on tour with the band.
According to the complaint, he described the nature of the relationship in his 2011 memoir, writing, “She was 16, she knew how to nasty … with my bad self being twenty-six and she barely old enough to drive and sexy as hell, I just fell madly in love with her. … She was my heart’s desire, my partner in crimes of passion. … I was so in love I almost took a teen bride. I went and slept at her parent’s house for a couple of nights and her parent’s fell in love with me, signed paper over for me to have custody, so I wouldn’t get arrested if I took her out of state. I took her on tour with me.”
The lawsuit also describes Misley’s alleged pregnancy with Tyler’s child, which ended in a “pressured” abortion.
“This reflects years of resilience and courage by Ms. Misley, driven by an unwavering pursuit of truth and justice. It is time for justice and for Tyler to be held accountable by a jury,” Misley’s attorney, Jeff Anderson, said in a statement.
Feedly AI Feeds are already powerful, but what if you could fine-tune them even further? Introducing Natural Language Filters—a new way to refine your feeds with precise, natural language queries on top of our AI Models.
With Natural Language Filters, you can:
Zero in on highly specific niche topics.
Filter by dollar amounts, percentages, and other numerical data.
Focus on directional relationships (e.g., which company acquired whom).
Ensure entities are truly connected in context, not just mentioned together.
Cut through the noise like never before—Feedly’s AI Feeds are now sharper, smarter, and more tailored to your research needs.
Introducing Natural Language Filters
Finding the right information in a sea of data is challenging. That’s why we’re introducing Natural Language Filters—a new way to fine-tune your Feedly AI Feeds with precise, natural language queries. Whether you need to track highly specific niche topics, filter by numerical values, or pinpoint directional relationships, Natural Language Filters give you unparalleled control over your results. Now, you can ensure the articles you surface are not just relevant but highly precise—helping you cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters.
Zero in on highly specific and niche topics
Researching niche topics can be challenging, even for the most well-crafted AI Feeds. While combining AI Models can help focus your query, the results can still be noisy. By adding a Natural Language Filter to an AI Feed, you can narrow in on articles about niche topics that are not currently supported by the AI Model library. For instance, you can create an LLM filter to surface results about specific products or models of a specific product.
You can also exclude topics from the feed by adding a “NOT” Natural Language Filter to remove unrelated content that could be cluttering your feed. For instance, you can exclude products you don’t compete against from an AI Feed that tracks competitor’s moves.
Filter by dollar amount, percentage or numerical data
While Feedly’s AI Models help analysts identify complex topics like industries, strategic moves, and companies, they were not designed to identify specific numbers or figures. However, with the new Natural Language Filters, analysts can now search for numbers as well as specify greater than and less than, percentages, or date ranges.
Focus on directional relationships
Specify the direction of transaction you care about and only surface articles that meet that criteria. For instance, you can narrow your trade search to only goods being exported from the United States into Mexico and Canada.
Ensure entities are truly connected in context, not just mentioned together
Specify the exact relationship you want to see between entities in you AI Feed. Often, multiple strategic events are listed in a single article, and both entities you care about may be mentioned throughout the article but not in relation to each other. With a Natural Language Filter, you can specify exactly how you wish the entities to be connected.
Final Thoughts
Natural Language Filters complement rather than replace AI Models, helping to refine your AI Feeds. While AI Models typically deliver superior results, Natural Language Filters provide a precise final adjustment to sharpen your focus, particularly when an AI Model returns broader results than your specific intelligence requirements demand.
Fine-tune your Feedly AI Feeds with Natural Language Filters
Pair AI Models with Natural Language Filters to zero in on the precise insights you need, even for the most niche topics.
As we’ve said before, we haven’t covered Survivor too much on Nerdist in the past. But are Survivor fans not truly some of the nerdiest fans of all? In many ways, Survivor is actually one of my personal earliest fandoms. And getting to rewalk those paths around Survivor 50 has been a truly wonderful (and very nerdy) experience. So I say, there’s no time like the present. Plus, we cheer for Ozzy in this house. And so, we’re temporarily expanding our coverage to let you all know that if you’re in NYC on May 6, you can have a Survivor 50 watch party in style—with our fav, Ozzy. As part of Brice And Wen Present’s Survivor 50 watch party series, there will be an “Ozzy NYC Pop Up!” in NYC. We love it.
If you’re not in NYC, fear not, because Brice And Wen Present are having Survivor watch parties in basically every corner of the United States. It’s kind of amazing. But, NYC deserves some fun too, so we’re excited that on Wednesday, May 6, Ozzy will be heading to The Ainsworth, New York, for what seems like it’s going to be a hell of a night.
If you’ve been keeping up with Survivor 50, you know that everything is heating up. The prize money has doubled. The “honor and integrity” alliance has steadily fallen to the queer people, weirdos, and nerds team-up, and everyone is on their own journey of growth, change, redemption, or whatever they’re looking for. Some of our favorites have gone home, RIP Christian and Survivor Spirk. But at Nerdist, we’re fully in on the Cirizard of Oz alliance, which has fav Ozzy and fav Cirie being fabulous together. We literally could not have asked for a better duo. (And Rizo, we like him too!)
CBS
But, of course, ever since Ozzy went on Twitter, said f*ck you to all terrible people out there and came out as a true bicon, no one else could even come close to claiming the title of my favorite Survivor player of all time. And so, I’m pumped he’ll be coming through town right at the height of my Survivor excitement. Here’s to you, Jungle Man.
If you’re like me, snag your ticket to the Ozzy Pop-Up today and get ready to cheer in real time during NYC’s most fun-ever Survivor watch party. And if you’re really feeling excited, make it a truly incredible queer Survivor double feature with Parv and a drag show!
Exclusive video games remain the top reason players opt to play on consoles.
That’s according to Circana’s Q1 Future of Video Games consumer survey, which notes that, while exclusive games remain the top factor, motivation has dropped year-on-year (-8pts).
The No.2 reason people choose to play on a console is that friends and family also play on it (38%), according to the survey, followed by consoles being perceived as easier to play with friends on (37%), and those surveyed preferring to play in a more casual setting (36%).
The Circana survey was highlighted by The Game Business this week, which explored the changing role of console exclusives at a time when both PlayStation and Xbox appear to be reviewing their strategies.
TGB editor Christopher Dring commented that it makes sense for both companies to review their strategies, six years into the current console generation.
“Releasing single-player PS5 games on PC appears relatively low-risk right now,” he said. “But with the rise of PC-based handhelds and consoles (including the next Xbox and the upcoming Steam Machine), the availability of PlayStation games on these devices might weaken the appeal of Sony’s hardware.
“So, the question becomes, is it worth it? And the data suggests, for a lot of its games, it isn’t. PS5 games on Steam, outside of live-service shooters, simply aren’t selling in high numbers. There may be games in the future where it is worth it.”
The situation for Xbox, Dring said, is different due to its console sales collapsing.
“What’s more, the profit margins on Xbox’s first-party games are impacted by their inclusion in the Game Pass subscription service. Putting its games on PlayStation not only widens the audience considerably, it’s also an audience that will buy the games at a premium price point.”
He added: “Xbox says its ‘North Star’ is daily active players, and releasing games on PlayStation will help it grow that number. But it will come at the expense of its platform and services.
“In its memo to staff, Xbox says it ‘will build a global platform that connects players and creators everywhere.’ And the best way to get players to use that global platform is by putting games on it that they can’t get anywhere else.”
If Desert Warrior was one of Saudi Arabia’s big cinema swings, then it looks to have been a swing and a miss, based on the movie’s early box office takings. Starring Captain America’s Anthony Mackie and Oscar winner Ben Kingsley, Desert Warrior endured a troubled five-year trek to the screen, but finally debuted in theaters last weekend across the U.S. and Middle East.
Vertical’s marketing has unsurprisingly spotlighted Mackie, Kingsley, and Rise of the Planet of the Apes director Rupert Wyatt’s spectacular shots of Saudi sands, but cinemagoers have ultimately not responded to Desert Warrior’s rallying cry, and it looks unlikely to recoup its $150M budget.
Not that expectations were ever that high. Those close to Desert Warrior were realistic about the movie’s appeal, particularly at a time when war is raging in the Middle East. There had been hopes Desert Warrior could crack $1M in America, but even so, it’s far from a disaster for Vertical.
Industry sources said it is unlikely that Vertical broke the bank for Desert Warrior, meaning a path to profit is entirely plausible for the distributor once all theatrical and home entertainment revenue is counted. Vertical is said to be particularly focused on premium video on demand, where it will hero Mackie in artwork following similar tactics with films like Elevation.
MBC did not respond to a request for comment. Vertical declined to comment.
Middle East Box Office
The box office picture is not much brighter in Middle Eastern markets, according to figures seen by Deadline. Desert Warrior grossed $87,000 from 6,100 admissions in Saudi Arabia over its opening weekend, making it the eighth-biggest title in the country.
Some of Saudi’s biggest hits in recent years performed more than ten times better than Desert Warrior. This includes Shabab Al Bomb, which grossed $1.24M in its opening weekend but benefited from being based on one of the most popular TV franchises in the Arab world.
Empire Entertainment, the Saudi distributor that handled Desert Warrior for MBC and looks after Sony releases in the territory, has had bigger hits this year, not least Project Hail Mary, which grossed $700,000 in its opening weekend.
As of Thursday in Saudi Arabia, Desert Warrior’s ticket sales totalled $110,000, per Comscore. In the UAE, this figure was $37,000, while across the Middle East, Desert Warrior has clocked up sales of just $225,000, though local sources said the film has not been heavily marketed.
Why Was ‘Desert Warrior’ Deserted?
MBC will surely have hoped for better from a project that was announced in a blaze of ambition, but did not have an easy journey to the screen amid creative differences with director Wyatt (who left the project and later returned), and a budget that grew with delays and a pick-up shoot in Saudi.
Timing has worked against the MBC. Cinemagoers don’t have the appetite for a film about a desert war in the middle of a literal desert war, one observer noted. MBC considered pushing Desert Warrior after Donald Trump bombed Iran, but the company was reluctant to delay again after years of false dawns.
Aiysha Hart in ‘Desert Warrior’
Others point to more fundamental creative issues with the film. A distribution source in the Middle East told Deadline that Desert Warrior has fallen between stalls, appealing to neither Arab nor Western audiences. “I’m not sure who it is targeting,” this person said. “It looks like another big-budget Hollywood film that just happens to have been filmed in Saudi.”
These questions were echoed after an unfinished version of Desert Warrior, which was not edited by Wyatt, underwent audience testing in July 2023, producing negative results. Sources told Deadline that the research led people on the film to question whether there was any demand for a Western interpretation of an Arab story. Lacklustre reviews (the title has a “rotten” 29% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes) only further compound these concerns.
For others, that Desert Warrior has even been released is a cause for celebration. There were times, between when the film was shot in 2021 and its period of post-production limbo, when crew members were openly speculating about it never seeing the light of day.
“There was definitely a fear among the filmmakers and talent that the thing had become such a white elephant that MBC would just bury it,” a source said. “It would have been easier for them to go straight to streaming, so MBC deserves credit for going the distance. They believed in what was good about the film, and it does some of the things they intended in showcasing what can be achieved on screen in the region.”
Deadline has reported that Desert Warrior’s box office return will not be the only measure of its success. We revealed that MBC executives discussed the importance of Mohammed bin Salman’s verdict and how this could impact the company’s future funding. Will the Saudi Crown Prince continue to sanction big swings, or will the regime retreat from movies, as it has done with sport?
Crew members will tell you: Desert Warrior‘s $150M didn’t just buy a movie, it bought a filmmaking infrastructure for Saudi Arabia. As the nation restructures its economy away from fossil fuels, there are those who believe that valuable lessons can be learned from Desert Warrior to support filmmaking endeavors in the future.
The Celebrity Traitors, the highest-rated show on British TV last year, is back for a second season.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, the BBC reality series has assembled another impressive cast as filming gets underway at Ardross Castle in the Scottish Highlands over the summer.
The Celebrity Traitors cast also boasts Industry star Myha’la, Barbie actress Sharon Rooney, Love Island host Maya Jama, Broadchurch’s Julie Hesmondhalgh, and Jerry Hall, the model and actress who was married to Mick Jagger. Below is the full cast:
Amol Rajan
Bella Ramsey
James Acaster
James Blunt
Jerry Hall
Joanne McNally
Joe Lycett
Julie Hesmondhalgh
King Kenny
Leigh-Anne Pinnock
Maya Jama
Michael Sheen
Miranda Hart
Myha’la
Professor Hannah Fry
Richard E. Grant
Rob Beckett
Romesh Ranganathan
Ross Kemp
Sebastian Croft
Sharon Rooney
Season 1 of The Celebrity Traitors debuted on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in October 2025 and was watched by an average audience of 14.9M, with a peak of 15.4M for the finale. Comedian Alan Carr emerged victorious in a game that featured Stephen Fry and Celia Imrie.
Season 2 will debut later this year. The Celebrity Traitors will be produced by Studio Lambert Scotland for BBC One and iPlayer and has been commissioned by Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment Commissioning for the BBC.
The Executive Producers for All3Media-backed Studio Lambert are Mike Cotton, Sarah Fay, Lewis Thurlow and Katy Fox with Production Executives, Lynette Woods-Reynolds, Gemma Scholes and Faye Donaldson. The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Neil McCallum and Michael Jochnowitz.
The Traitors (Dutch title: De Verraders) was created and developed by IDTV in cooperation with RTL Creative Unit. All3Media International is global partner for The Traitors and handles format and tape sales worldwide.
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission.
Twenty horses and jockeys are gearing up for the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby. The first leg of the 2026 Triple Crown takes place on Saturday, May 2, with a scheduled start time of 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT, and event coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT. Both the race and pre-race coverage are broadcast on NBC, which can be streamed live on any streaming service that carries the network, including DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling and Hulu + Live TV.
The 2026 Kentucky Derby will also livestream on Peacock, however the streamer does not offer a free trial. Learn more about each streaming option (and their free trials and new subscriber discounts) below.
The 152nd Kentucky Derby takes place at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, May 2, with a scheduled start time of 6:57 p.m. ET/3:57 p.m. PT. Pre-race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT.
Where to Watch Kentucky Derby 2026
The horse racing event (and pre-race coverage) airs on NBC, which can be streamed live via DirecTV (with a five-day free trial), Sling or Hulu + Live TV. It will also livestream on Peacock, however the streamer does not offer a trial period. More on each streaming option below.
DirecTV
Five-day free trial; packages from $19.99 per month
NBC is included in any of DirecTV’s signature packages: Entertainment, Choice, Ultimate or Premier. Plus, DirecTV is offering a five-day free trial for its streaming service, meaning new subscribers can catch the race at no cost.
Learn more about each plan option, including how to build your own channel lineup (starting at just $19.99 per month), at directv.com.
NBCUniversal
Peacock
Starting at $10.99 per month
Not a Peacock subscriber? The streamer has an ad-supported Peacock Premium package for $10.99 monthly (or $109.99 yearly). Otherwise, the ad-free Peacock Premium Plus plan is $16.99 monthly (or $169.99 yearly).
While the streaming service doesn’t offer a free trial directly, deal-savvy streamers can enjoy free Peacock access through partner subscriptions, including Instacart+ and Walmart+, which both include Peacock Premium in their membership. Plus, since both Instacart+ and Walmart+ offer free trials — 14 days for Instacart+ and 30 days for Walmart+ — members can stream Peacock at no cost during the trial period.
NBC is included in Sling’s Blue Plan, starting at $45.99 per month.
For the best bang for your buck, opt for Sling’s Orange & Blue plan, which provides everything both the Orange and Blue plans have to offer, starting at $60.99 monthly.
Hulu + Live TV
Three-day free trial; packages from $89.99 per month
Watch NBC for free with a three-day trial to Hulu + Live TV, which comes bundled with Disney+ and ESPN+, starting at $89.99 per month.
Kentucky Derby 2026 Horses, Odds
The 20 horses in this year’s Derby (and their odds, according to the official Kentucky Derby website) include:
Renegade, 4-1
Albus, 30-1
Intrepido, 50-1
Litmus Test, 50-1
Commandment, 6-1
Danon Bourbon, 20-1
So Happy, 15-1
The Puma, 10-1
Wonder Dean, 30-1
Incredibolt, 20-1
Chief Wallabee, 8-1
Potente, 20-1
Emerging Market, 15-1
Pavlovian, 30-1
Six Speed, 50-1
Further Ado, 6-1
Golden Tempo, 30-1
Great White, 50-1
Ocelli, 50-1
Robusta, 50-1
Three horses scratched: Right to Party (Post No. 5), Silent Tactic (Post No. 13) and Fulleffort (Post No. 20). This allows Great White (Post No. 21), Ocelli (Post No. 22) and Robusta (Post No. 23) to enter Saturday’s race.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, led by Henry Cavilland Alan Ritchson, has found a new home on streaming with a confirmed release date on Peacock. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the film will be available on the platform starting next month. The film’s move to Peacock is expected to expand its reach to a wider audience.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare to stream on Peacock in May
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, the 2024 action war film led by Henry Cavill and Alan Ritchson, is set to arrive on Peacock next month. According to CBR, the film will be available for streaming starting May 18, 2026, on the platform.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, the film was originally released in the United States on April 19, 2024. The movie’s story is set during World War II and follows the creation of a small, highly skilled British unit assigned to operate beyond conventional battle zones. Working under the direction of Prime Minister Winston Churchill and involving figures such as Ian Fleming, the team is tasked with carrying out missions that traditional forces cannot undertake.
The group uses unconventional tactics to weaken enemy operations rather than relying on traditional military strategy. Their methods ultimately contribute to the development of the British SAS and influence modern black ops warfare.
The film’s cast includes Henry Cavill as Gustavus Henry March-Phillipps, Alan Ritchson as Anders Lassen, Alex Pettyfer as Geoffrey Appleyard, Eiza González as Marjorie Stewart, and Babs Olusanmokun as Richard Heron.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a critics’ score of 68 percent based on 169 reviews. Meanwhile, the audience rating has been much stronger at 91 percent on Popcornmeter. Empire Online reported, “So, it is far from perfect, careless not only with its history and its characters but its structure (at two hours, it feels sloppy). This is a perfectly undemanding watch. Just don’t watch it with a historian.”
Despite this, the film was a flop at the box office. It earned around $30 million worldwide against an estimated production budget of $60 million.
Spencer Pratt — the 2000s reality TV star turned 2010s online influencer turned 2020s populist firebrand — is now a formidable candidate in the L.A. mayoral race, gauged by fundraising totals, poll numbers and incoming criticism from chief rivals. This ascent is a shock for the city’s liberal establishment, which considers him an unqualified clown. It shouldn’t be.
His reactionary run, a revivalist pitch to make the city “once again ‘camera-ready’ for all its citizens” by cracking down on crime and corruption, has gained traction with his rollout of a slick and mischievous digital strategy. It culminated in a recent campaign ad rollout riffing on Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to knock his competitors, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and progressive L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman. The button on the spot was a callback to his own Act I inciting incident — how his house burnt down in last year’s Pacific Palisades wildfire as a result, he insists, of government incompetence.
Pratt posted his most revealing meme three days earlier, on April 26: Himself embodying Michael Douglas’ put-upon worker on the poster of Falling Down. That’s Joel Schumacher’s 1993 revenge thriller about a fed-up white Angeleno who embarks on a violent odyssey across an alienating urban hellscape to reunite with his daughter. Pratt reproduced the tagline — “The adventure of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world” — but edited out the character’s wielding of a pump-action shotgun. (Douglas’ protagonist is a laid-off contractor in the then-collapsing local defense sector; as it happens, Pratt’s grandfather was employed as a military engineer for a Southern California defense firm.)
Pratt’s channeling of Falling Down is apt. After all, the film is a straightforward parable about the attempt to reassert authority amid chaos. It was released the last time L.A. was at its nadir, battered by natural disasters, economic woes and the widespread civic unrest that followed the verdict in Rodney King’s police beating.
For generations, and with few exceptions, the city has been defined by liberal ethos and Democratic Party machine politics. Even brand-name billionaire developer Rick Caruso’s $100 million-plus campaign war chest and spin on latter-day Rockefeller Republicanism couldn’t win him the mayoralty last go-around. Yet within this sprawling bubble, L.A. has long cultivated consequential strains of backlash, from Howard Jarvis’ tax revolt to the xenophobia of Stephen Miller, who currently oversees the White House’s anti-immigration policies.
Now there’s Pratt, a figure whose candidacy has been embraced by a broad swath of right-oriented media spanning the Murdochs’ key outlets to the biggest online influencers (both Joe Rogan and Adam Carolla have endorsed him). Pratt first made his name as a villain on MTV for, among other gambits, rumormongering about an alleged sex tape involving his co-star. He was still cashing in on his notoriety as recently as January when he published a tell-all memoir that reads like the ultimate oppo file, full of character self-assassinating disclosures about his personal and professional life.
None of this appears to matter much to Pratt’s supporters, who like President Donald Trump’s MAGA base see him as an improbable savior and imperfect vessel whose shock-value messaging — on fraud, waste, bureaucracy and other municipal ills — is validating. Exhibit A: Other candidates speak of various humanizing technocratic approaches to help the “homeless,” and some opt for the euphemized term “unhoused.” Meanwhile Pratt, believing improperly treated drug addiction to be the core problem, often refers to them as “zombies” when making his case that enforcement against street encampments has been bungled.
The prominent L.A.-based culture critic Meghan Daum, whose work often targets liberal pieties, announced on Apr. 26 that she’s voting for Pratt, citing his directness about the encampments. “We want to be in a place of reality,” she said. “People are ready for a no-bullshit era and Spencer Pratt may be the one to usher it in.”
Pratt’s campaign donors range from law firm partners, mid-level studio executives and small business owners to aestheticians, police officers and retirees. According to city disclosure filings, they also include former Lakers leader Jeanie Buss, actress turned anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy, realtor-to-the-stars Kurt Rappaport, reality TV producer Jeff Jenkins (Keeping Up with the Kardashians) and OANN host Ginger Gaetz — wife of controversial former GOP House Rep. Matt Gaetz and sister of Southern California arms-manufacturing billionaire Palmer Luckey.
An insider industry set has increasingly embraced Pratt. On April 27, film producer Hilary Shor posted on Threads about a lunch that Larry David’s wife Ashley hosted at her house for the candidate. “Miracles do happen I am voting for him,” Shor wrote, adding that actress turned philanthropist Irena Medavoy “and many others were transfixed by the power of his message which hopefully will help save our town.”
Pratt shares with Trump, his fellow reality TV alum, a telegenic charisma that can swerve between anger and affability. Still, his outlook and shtick are perhaps most legible through a distinctly Angeleno lens. (Anyone who’s spent much time along the coast is familiar with the brah-litics of men with sunglasses perched atop their heads who profess their love for burritos, crystals, guns, flip-flops and their favorite blue-eyed blonde.) Pratt descends from Sam Yorty, L.A.’s 1960s populist mayor with a major law-and-order bent, and Wally George, the 1980s local TV host known for his combative critiques of what he perceived to be leftist excesses, fueled by an insult-driven humor.
The mayoral primary is a month away. A runoff election, held Nov. 3, is all but certain. Whether or not Pratt wins, the grievance politics and spectacle style of his candidacy is likely to define the remainder of the race.
People ask how to become successful. How to get representation. How to get into festivals. Or how to get financing. But beneath all of those questions is another one the industry rarely says out loud:
How does a filmmaker become hot?
Because once heat exists, doors begin opening differently. Emails get answered faster. Actors suddenly become available. Producers start “checking in.” Festivals pay closer attention. Meetings appear from nowhere. The industry begins projecting possibility onto you.
And the strange part?
Heat is not purely about talent.
It is about momentum, identity, timing, perception, and the dangerous feeling that something important might be happening around your work before everyone else notices.
1. A recognisable voice
A hot filmmaker does not necessarily feel polished. They feel distinct. You can sense their identity within minutes. The framing, the rhythm, the emotional temperature, the way characters speak — something feels authored instead of assembled. That is what separated early Christopher Nolan from countless technically competent directors making forgettable films in the late 1990s. It is what made Sean Baker stand out in The Florida Project. The industry is saturated with people who know how to make films. Very few know how to make work that feels unmistakably theirs.
2. Momentum beats perfection
Hot filmmakers are usually in motion. One project leads visibly into another. A short film hits a festival. A teaser circulates online. A producer mentions their name. A cinematographer posts behind-the-scenes images. Momentum creates the perception that something is building. The industry responds to movement because movement suggests inevitability. Many filmmakers disappear for years trying to perfect one project. Heat rarely survives silence. Imperfect momentum often creates more opportunity than isolated brilliance.
3. They understand attention
Many filmmakers still believe talent alone should attract audiences. That fantasy is collapsing. Hot filmmakers understand that attention is part of the craft now. The work matters, but so does the mythology around the work. Interviews, visual identity, opinions, process, online presence, collaborations, even the way they speak about cinema all contribute to their heat. Early Quentin Tarantino did not become culturally explosive through filmmaking alone. People were drawn to the energy surrounding him. The personality amplified the films. In the modern era, filmmakers who ignore attention mechanics often become invisible regardless of talent.
4. Festivals still matter, but only if they create traction
A strong screening at Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, or Raindance Film Festival can still create enormous heat around a filmmaker. But the festival itself is not the career. It is the ignition point. The filmmakers who survive are the ones who convert attention into infrastructure: collaborators, financing relationships, audience ownership, future projects, representation, distribution pathways. Too many filmmakers mistake applause for momentum. One successful screening means very little if nothing follows it.
5. Hot filmmakers make people money
This is the uncomfortable truth beneath much industry enthusiasm. If financiers, distributors, producers, or sales agents believe a filmmaker can generate strong returns relative to risk, that filmmaker becomes attractive very quickly. Right now, filmmakers who can produce compelling work at controlled budgets are especially valuable. A filmmaker who can make a powerful $300,000 genre film with international sales potential may be more attractive than someone trying to raise $8 million for an unfocused drama. Heat often follows perceived economic intelligence as much as artistic talent.
6. They build ecosystems instead of isolated films
The old model was built around singular projects. Make a film. Hope people find it. That world is fading. Hot filmmakers increasingly build ecosystems around their work. They cultivate audiences directly. They maintain mailing lists, communities, recurring collaborators, recognisable themes, and a consistent identity across platforms. Their work feels connected rather than accidental. The filmmaker starts becoming larger than any individual project. That creates loyalty. It creates anticipation. It creates cultural gravity.
7. Timing changes everything
Sometimes the culture suddenly aligns with what a filmmaker already represents. Jordan Peele emerged with Get Out at the exact moment horror, social commentary, and commercial accessibility collided in mainstream culture. The same thing is happening now with AI-native creators, vertical storytellers, and filmmakers who instinctively understand internet-era pacing and audience behaviour. Often the filmmaker who looks strange or irrelevant today becomes the filmmaker everyone imitates tomorrow. Timing does not replace talent, but it can amplify it explosively.
Fade Out
The final truth is this: Hot filmmakers create gravity.
People talk about them after meetings end. Actors mention them to other actors. Producers forward their trailers late at night. Festival programmers remember their names months later. Audiences feel like they discovered something before the rest of the culture catches up.
That is what heat really is.
Not fame.
Not followers.
Not even success.
Heat is collective anticipation. The feeling that a hot filmmaker is becoming inevitable.
And in independent cinema, inevitability is often the closest thing power has to magic.
A Nova Scotia community is gathering Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of two young siblings in an effort to show that Lilly and Jack Sullivan are never far from their minds.
Lilly and Jack, aged six and four at the time, were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station in Pictou County, N.S., on May 2, 2025.
It was reported to police at the time that the children had wandered away from their family property.
Despite weeks and months of extensive searches and an ongoing police investigation involving multiple agencies, there has been no sign of the brother and sister.
A public gathering, which organizers are calling a Rally for Justice, is scheduled for 2 p.m. outside the RCMP detachment in Stellarton, N.S.
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Kent Corbett is organizing the event with Belynda Gray, the children’s paternal grandmother.
Corbett said the event will include speeches and a renewed call for answers because the community feels lost without them.
“The two vigils that were previously held were great at those points,” he said.
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“But at this time, we figured that we have no answers from the RCMP and so we wanted to make sure that the RCMP know that the public’s not going to forget about it and we need more answers as to what happened.”
For their part, RCMP say they want answers too.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, the officer in charge of major crimes stressed that investigators have not given up and that “we want answers as much as everybody else.”
“Ever since this began, the RCMP has been actively engaged in pursuing the answers as to what happened with Jack and Lilly. This is a critical question for our community when two young children go missing and we have no answers,” Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon said.
“We’ve not let up the steam and we won’t.”
Ontario-based charity leads latest effort to find 2 missing children in Nova Scotia
RCMP said investigators have formally interviewed 106 people, administered polygraphs, reviewed 8,132 video files and executed warrants for “materials and digital devices of those closest to the children.” That material has included phone and banking records.
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As well, police report evaluating and prioritizing 1,191 tips.
This week, they made an appeal to the public for “fact-based tips” as they try to determine what happened to the children.
Jim Hoskins, a retired Halifax Regional Police staff sergeant who has been watching the case unfold, says he’s not surprised it’s been a year and there are still few to no public answers as to what might have happened.
“That doesn’t mean [police] don’t have some hypothesis as to what has happened,” Hoskins said.
“If they don’t have one now, I’d be surprised they don’t have some ideas what happened.”
RCMP maintain there’s no evidence the Sullivan children were abducted. Currently, it’s still considered a missing persons case but McCamon admitted it’s unlikely they are alive.
“I think the chances that Jack and Lilly are alive are very slim,” he said.
Pete Davidson and his girlfriend, Elsie Hewitt, managed to keep their relationship largely out of the spotlight until March 2025, when the Daily Mail published photos of the couple enjoying a beach day in Palm Beach, Florida. Just a few months later, in July, Elsie, 30, revealed that she and Pete, 32, were expecting their first child together. That December, she gave birth to their daughter, Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson.
“our perfect angel girl arrived 12/12/2025 scottie rose hewitt davidson,” Elsie captioned an Instagram post that month. “My best work yet, i am absolutely overflowing with love and gratitude and disbelief. – elsie wu tang forever. – pete.”
Since welcoming their daughter, the couple has remained relatively private, though recent reports suggest they have been working through relationship challenges while adjusting to new parenthood. Despite the added attention, Pete has previously spoken about how difficult it can be navigating such a personal milestone in the public eye, noting that his partner prefers to stay out of the spotlight. “I feel bad for my girl because I bring a lot of s**t,” he admitted during his August 13, 2025, interview on The Breakfast Club. “She’s a very private person and she’s the one doing all the work. It’s supposed to be a beautiful experience.”
Outside of her relationship with Pete, the London native is already well-known as a model and actress, with over 1 million Instagram followers and a growing career in entertainment.
Hollywood Life has rounded up five facts about Elsie below.
Elsie Hewitt Is a Model & Actress
Elsie, who is now 30 years old, has several acting and modeling credits under her belt. According to her IMDb, Elsie’s most well-known acting credits were in the TV series Dave and Industry and in the movie Billy Knight. She also starred in the short film Bitchy.
Previously, Elsie was a Playboy Playmate.
Elsie Hewitt Worked on a Benny Blanco Music Video
One of Elsie’s IMDb credits listed her as part of the cast for Benny Blanco‘s music video titled “Benny Blanco & Juice WRLD: Graduation.”
Elsie Hewitt Is From London
Elsie hails from London but moved to Los Angeles when she was just 10 years old, according to her IMDb page. However, she didn’t officially begin working in the entertainment industry until she was 18.
Elsie Hewitt Runs a Foodie Instagram Account
At the time of publication, Elsie’s separate Instagram account @elsieeats has almost 50,000 followers. She frequently posts fun moments snacking on some of the best dishes.
On her verified Instagram page, Elsie shares updates about her acting roles, but she also shares the occasional foodie post. For her 29th birthday in March 2025, the model posted a carousel featuring a shot of her enjoying a burger-designed cake.
Elsie Hewitt Shares a Daughter With Pete Davidson
In July 2025, Elsie announced that she and Pete were expecting their first child together in a cheeky Instagram caption, which read, “Welp, now everyone knows we had sex.”
That December, Elsie gave birth to their daughter, Scottie Rose Hewitt Davidson.
Multiple outlets reported that Elsie has been romantically linked to a few A-listers. Before she started seeing Pete, the British actress dated Jason Sudeikis, per Page Six. Before that, she was in a relationship with Ryan Phillippe, whom she filed a lawsuit against in 2017 over an alleged domestic violence incident. Ryan denied the abuse allegations, and he and Elsie reached a settlement in October 2019 before the case was set to go to trial, per People.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
– Show is renewed for its fifth and final season – Filming is currently underway as of May 2026 – Jeremy Renner and Edie Falco are among those confirmed to reprise their roles – Will have eight episodes, no release date or trailer as of yet – Brief series synopsis has been confirmed
The show follows Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky, an ex-con navigating the dangerous line between law enforcement and the city’s criminal underworld. The crime thriller “plunges viewers into the ruthless power struggles and violence that defines Kingstown, Michigan,” as Paramount puts it.
Season 4 only ended in December 2025, but with news of a final renewal breaking in January 2026, all eyes are on how the hit series wraps up its drama once and for all.
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While details are still in the early stages, we do know some things for certain when it comes to Mayor of Kingstown season 5… so let’s break them down.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 release date predictions
‘MAYOR OF KINGSTOWN’ will end with Season 5 pic.twitter.com/lxXHPVX68lJanuary 5, 2026
Sadly yet unsurprisingly, Mayor of Kingstown season 5 doesn’t have a confirmed release date as of yet.
However, we can try to work out when the eight episodes will drop based on when previous seasons have been released:
Season 1: November 14, 2021
Season 2: January 15, 2023
Season 3: June 2, 2024
Season 4: June 2, 2025
If I were to put money on it, I’d guess that season 5 will have a June 2027 release date slot, but Paramount could easily surprise us.
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Mayor of Kingstown season 5 trailer: is there one?
Not yet. Season 5 filming is underway in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so we’ll likely be waiting a while for an update here.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 possible cast
Jeremy Renner in season 3. (Image credit: Paramount Plus)
Paramount has confirmed the return of the below Mayor of Kingstown season 5 core cast:
Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky
Edie Falco as Nina Hobbs
David Morse as Russell Hardy
Laura Benanti as Cindy Stephens
Hugh Dillon as Ian Ferguson
Taylor Handley as Kyle McLusky
Tobi Bamtefa as Deverin “Bunny” Washington
Derek Webster as Stevie
Necar Zadegan as Eveyln Foley
Nichole Galicia as Rebecca
Lennie James as Frank Moses
David Morse (House, John Adams) joins the cast as FBI agent Russell Hardy. Series co-creator Hugh Dillon continues his role as police detective Ian Ferguson.
Mayor of Kingstown season 5 potential plot
Maybe some more of this? (Image credit: Paramount Plus)
According to Paramount, here’s a brief synopsis on the season 5 plot: “In Mayor of Kingstown Season 5, FBI agent Russell Hardy (new series regular David Morse) arrives in Kingstown following the murder of Mike’s sister-in-law, Tracy McLusky (Nishi Munshi).
“A dedicated lawman, Agent Hardy threatens to disrupt the tenuous balance of power in Kingstown.”
Previously, co-creators Taylor Sheridan and Hugh Dillon hinted that the show could run as long as seven seasons, suggesting narrative plans were already in the works.
“Whether it goes that far or that’s where we get [who knows], but he has an ending, and everyone knows about it,” Dillon told Screen Rant. “And when you talk to him, he will tell you in detail. So, our goal is to get to that season 7, because that’s as far as we can get, because that’s where he’s always had it. 15 years ago, he had it. 15 years ago, ‘So, here’s how it’s starting, Mitch is going to get killed off in the first 10 pages, and season 7, episode 10, this is where Mike’s going to be.’ I’m like, ‘Holy f—, I’m in. Okay.'”
It’s officially been a decade since Taylor Swift attended the Met Gala, but that might change on May 4, 2026.
Taylor Swift’s history with the Met Gala runs deep, having attended the event five times before serving as cochair for her final appearance in 2016. That evening not only marked her first red-carpet appearance with her Vogue-curated platinum blonde, but it’s also rumored to be the night she met both ex-boyfriends Tom Hiddleston and Joe Alwyn, potentially marking May 2, 2016, as one of the most pivotal dates in Swift’s lore. Don’t believe me? Check out the lyrics to “Dress” and then come back here.
Since that date, Swift released seven studio albums, rerecorded nearly her entire discography, regained ownership over her masters, and fell in love with her fiancé, Travis Kelce. With so much changing in the past decade, now would be the perfect time for her to reclaim her position as a Met Gala mainstay.
This year’s “Costume Art” theme is particularly well-suited for the 36-year-old pop star, as guests are invited to “express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.” Considering how much thought Swift puts into her own tour costumes—as well as planting Easter eggs in her day-to-day looks—this would be the perfect opportunity to wrap up her Life of a Showgirl era before her upcoming wedding.
And while we’re not the keepers of Taylor Swift’s schedule, she was last seen in New York City on April 27, making her appearance at the event all the more likely.
Taylor Swift is seen leaving The Jane Hotel on April 27, 2026.
MEGA
The other remaining question is whether or not Swift would walk the Met steps with Travis Kelce. While the Kansas City Chiefs kicked off training camp on April 20, we know the man loves a white-tie moment. Still, Swift may see this as another opportunity for a highly photogenic girls night out.
After all, this wouldn’t be the first time Swift has hit the red carpet to support Met Gala 2026 co-chair Beyoncé, nor is she likely to pass up a night out with this particular host committee, which includes longtime friend Lena Dunham and Sabrina Carpenter. One thing is for sure, the Met bathroom photos would be epic.
When Miranda saunters through the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan’s stunning historic shopping arcade, the lights shimmer off the colored crystals and black sequins on her Armani overcoat, turning her into a human disco ball.
“When I read the script, I was like, ‘That needs to dazzle,’” Rogers said of the statement piece from Giorgio Armani’s Privé spring 2025 couture collection, which she layered over a tie-neck Lurex Oud blouse and black trousers.
It was a choice she initially had some trepidation about.
“I was afraid of the pussy-bow blouse on Miranda Priestly,” she said. “Because that feels soft to me. But it was such a cacophony of colors and textures, and I felt like it was strong enough.”
Miranda’s black cat-eye Prada glasses are striking, of course, but Rogers said the boldest accessory was her side-swept white hair.
“I think that there was great resistance to that,” Rogers said. “People didn’t understand that.”
The look was drawn from that of the fashion editor Polly Mellen and the model Carmen Dell’Orefice.
“Meryl and Pat insisted on it,” Rogers said.
Power Gloves
Emily’s gala dress — a strapless Dior gown with a nude tulle and black lace corset top, matching opera gloves and a slinky black satin skirt with a double side bow — was Rogers’s favorite look from the film. Alas, it ended up on the cutting-room floor.
Still, she said, she loved getting the chance to bring an edge to a very un-Emily-like shape.
“When I think of Dior and bows, I think of Charlotte,” Rogers said of the preppy “Sex and the City” character. “So to take a Dior bow and make it look — there’s a bit of a goth idea there. And I thought that was really appropriate for her character.”
During California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s last appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” in 2025, the titular host took pains to grill his governor on what he felt were the many needless layers of bureaucracy in the Golden State — namely, that he was forced to pay for two roof inspections on his home following the wildfires that ravaged the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.
“Why do I need two inspections, which I have to pay for?!” exclaimed the comedian. “You were here last time. We talked about regulations. You said, ‘Oh, it’s a completely new day… You said you were working on it.”
That’s about as testy as things got. Maher is a big fan of Newsom’s overall, having repeatedly urged him to run for president in 2028 and cheering on his social media trolling of President Trump. Plus, they have the exact same hairstyle.
On Friday night, Newsom returned to the late-night HBO show to promote his memoir “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.” Maher was a bit tougher on his pal than he’s been in the past.
Maher kicked off their sit-down chat by asking Newsom about how high the temperature’s been raised in American politics given the recent assassination attempt on President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
“What did [Trump] do the day after [the assassination attempt]? He talked about the beach photo and the indictment of one of his enemies,” Newsom replied, referencing Trump going after former FBI director James Comey over an innocuous photo of arranged seashells he posted. “He’s not doing anything to try to unite this country in any way, shape, or form. To me, that’s the biggest reflection of this moment — just the sewer we’re now living in because of Donald Trump.”
Then Maher dug his heels in: “But many people would say that you are imitating him… You are the one who kind of imitates his style with the trolling. You’re suing Fox now, I understand.”
“Fox better look to settle right now or apologize for defamation,” Newsom shot back.
“OK but that sounds exactly like what he does,” offered Maher. “Suing media?” Trump since 2024 has forced big media companies, including Disney and Paramount, into rich settlements over frivolous lawsuits.
Newsom was undeterred: “Well, don’t defame, don’t lie,” he said of his suit against Fox News.
So, this production has obviously had its challenges. The music is still the Moana soundtrack, though.
Photo: Disney
I don’t feel as confident about this one as I should, but I’d be surprised if it bombs.
Will this version of Moana make another billion? I’m struggling to get there.
Disney
That fact should worry Disney, as I’ve been one of the brand’s most passionate advocates.
The marketing seems to be, “Look, kids, it’s Moana!” Is that enough? I have concerns.
‘Super Troopers 3’ – August 7th
Here’s something you may not know about me: I’m a Broken Lizard fanatic.
I’ve seen Super Troopers and Super Troopers 2 in theaters, as well as Club Dread and Beerfest.
Photo: Fox
We also watched every episode of Tacoma FD, which is really good comfort TV.
So, I’m enthusiastic about this film, even though it will make very little box office.
Super Trooper 3
Still, I’m going to recommend the film to you, as the trailer is hysterical.
Also, dirty. I’m not going to link it for that reason, but you can find it on YouTube.
‘The Dog Stars’ – August 28th
Last week, Disney unveiled the trailer for Ridley Scott’s next movie.
As someone who has rewatched The Martian and Prometheus more times than I can count, I’m there.
However, we’re far past the saturation point with post-apocalyptic stories.
Thanos as a doomsday prepper is really good casting, though.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
Disney is taking a big swing here by giving this one a $110 million budget.
Historically, Ridley Scott fans do support his projects, but this one’s a risk.
The Dog Stars
The last time Disney tried something like this, well…do you remember The Creator? Exactly.
I hope this one does well, though, as Ridley Scott is one of my all-time faves.
‘Avengers: Endgame’ – September 25th
Yes, Disney will re-release Avengers: Endgame as part of the build to its sequel.
In 2019, Marvel reached the pinnacle of its power, and Disney hopes to remind you of that.
Photo: Marvel
Sure, the 2020s have been tough, but remember when Captain America wielded Mjolnir?
This is my go-to movie when flying because it’s three hours of pure joy.
Marvel: Avengers: Endgame
Fan service gets a bad name. When done right, it’s the best form of storytelling.
‘Whalefall’ – October 16th
Speaking of Thanos, Josh Brolin also co-stars in this film with a great premise.
A SCUBA diver gets swallowed by a whale. That’s it. That’s the movie.
Whalefall
The diver has one hour to escape before he becomes a permanent part of said whale.
This is another book whose theatrical rights Disney acquired before it was even released.
Whalefall
Disney only spent $49 million on this one and got a $10.4 million tax break.
So, the investment here is modest for a title that could surprise in theaters.
Photo: Hello! Magazine
Sometimes, these paranoid underwater survival films do quite well.
47 Meters Down and The Meg both earned sequels. This one’s a risk but a worthwhile attempt.
‘Wild Horse Nine’ – November 6th
Director Martin McDonagh helmed one of my favorite films ever, In Bruges.
I’m not sure any story has ever been better at encapsulating the concept of redemption.
Photo: Fox
Somehow, McDonagh did so during a story with a body count in the dozens.
His films have earned 17 Academy Awards to date, with two victories. And he has won as well.
Photo: Fox
So, you can understand why Disney is betting on McDonagh’s latest film.
Wild Horse Nine is a period piece set in the early 1970s.
CIA operatives travel to the tropical paradise of Chile, where everything predictably goes sideways.
Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich star in the film, but I’m fascinated by another role.
Photo: Fox
Legendary singer Tom Waits will reunite with McDonagh.
They’d previously worked together on Seven Psychopaths. McDonagh’s movies are all bloodthirsty.
‘Hexed’ – November 25th
Here it is, Disney fans. This is the next theatrical release from Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Hexed follows on the heels of Zootopia 2, but let’s be honest.
Photo: Disney
This one feels like the (quick) spiritual successor to Encanto.
The conclusion is inescapable based on the names of the two films.
Photo: Disney
Both evoke magical settings and celebrate the family dynamic.
In this case, a teen discovers her magical abilities, forcing her to go on a journey.
Photo: Variety
Her mother joins her along the way, a rare inversion of most Disney films.
Well, for starters, a parent is alive, which is a nice change of pace.
Photo: Disney
Disney changed the story, as it originally focused on a teen boy.
The internet is convinced that Disney made the change after Elio bombed.
D23
Whether that’s true or not, a teen girl learning the witchy ropes from her mom is a good concept.
Is it an original concept? Not really. Then again, the original version wasn’t either.
Photo: YouLoveIt.com
I mean, a teen learning how to be a witch from an elder is the plot of Agatha All Along.
So, I suspect that factored heavily into the decision as well.
Photo: D23 Expo
Will this change work? We’ll have to stay tuned, but Disney really needs an original IP hit.
‘Avengers: Doomsday’ – December 18th
Then, we have the title that will ultimately decide Disney’s 2026 box office fate.
Don’t get me wrong. The studio is poised to have a great year no matter what.
Marvel
However, should 2026 end with another Marvel movie disappointing, it’ll be ugly.
For this reason, Disney has stacked the deck with Avengers: Doomsday.
Photo: Marvel
I feel like 30 percent of Hollywood will appear in this film.
At a minimum, anyone who has ever worn a super-suit appears to have signed on.
Photo: Marvel
Most importantly, Robert Downey Jr. is returning to the MCU.
What’s changed is his identity. He’ll play Doom now since Tony Stark is dead.
Photo: Getty Images for Disney
Fans were initially icy to the announcement, one I consider a masterstroke.
So, we’ll find out who is right and who is wrong during the holiday season.
‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ – July 31st
Finally, since I know some people will ask about it, I’ll toss in this Sony release.
As a reminder, that studio owns the rights to the Spider-Man license.
Photo: Marvel
This fact has gotten Sony in trouble as it failed to expand the brand.
Tom Holland’s Spider-Man films have excelled, and Venom has done well, too.
Photo: Marvel
Everything else has been a disaster. Not coincidentally, Sony rushed another Spider-Man film.
The early buzz was awful, but the situation has changed dramatically.
Photo: Marvel
Sony hired Destin Daniel Cretton of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Since he came onboard, the Spidey news has been glowing.
Photo: Marvel
I fully expect this one to be the top film of the summer and possibly even the year.
The primary competitors are Toy Story 5 and Avengers: Doomsday.
Photo: Marvel
Remember that Disney gets a 25 percent cut on Brand New Day’s profits.
So, Disney appears to be in great shape to earn a ton of money this year.
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Though having largely started with a fresh slate, James Gunn confirms he will clear the air on the DC Universe‘s canon connections with the previous franchise, better known as the Snyderverse.
Gunn memorably joined the previous franchise, dubbed the DC Extended Universe, with 2021’s The Suicide Squad, before later taking over as DC Studios co-CEO in late 2023 and aiming to do a soft reboot of the franchise. Though this new era technically began with HBO Max’s Creature Commandos as part of its first chapter, “Gods and Monsters,” Gunn indicated that Xolo Maridueña’s Blue Beetle would return from his 2023 film, while Peacemaker season 2’s opening offered some better clarification on what was still considered canon in the DCU.
In response to a recent question on Threads about the lingering Snyderverse and DCU canon connections from the original Suicide Squad, his standalone sequel and Blue Beetle after sharing further insight on the Peacemaker season 2 podcast, Gunn acknowledged that he’s “been thinking about this a lot” in regard to the latter two movies. The DC Studios boss expressed that he’s “been meaning to rewatch both with an eye” directed toward any unspecified canonical ties, particularly “knowing what I know now almost three years” into the new franchise, along with the “couple more years of scripts being actively filmed or created.”
As such, Gunn shared that, after finishing production on his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow, and getting it out in July 2027, he may reunite with his stars and frequent collaborators, Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee, for “a special couple podcasts to discuss” any unspecified canon connections. He further opened the floor to questions from fans about what they “think is potentially or definitely NOT canon” from The Suicide Squad and Blue Beetle.
Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Cyborg in Zack Snyder’s Justice Leaguevia MovieStillsDB
In addition to a variety of sequels and planned individual projects, the Snyderverse’s early ending memorably led to the scrapping of Zack Snyder’s two Justice League sequels to round out his trilogy story plans. While the years since have seen Gunn affirm a variety of conversations with Snyder, he’s also largely confirmed that the prior franchise is dead, while new projects, like the animated Mister Miracle, have recast key previous characters such as Darkseid.
Peacemaker season 2 had seemingly gone a long way to helping better clear up some of the unanswered canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse with its “Previously in the DCU” recap montage. The season 1 finale’s Justice League cameos were instead swapped to the Justice Gang, with only Nathan Fillion and Isabela Merced actually being visible as the Guy Gardner version of Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. Additionally, the other silhouettes were swapped to David Corenswet’s Superman, Edi Gathegi’s Mister Terrific and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl.
That being said, there are definitely a number of lingering questions from both The Suicide Squad and Blue Beetle tying the DCU to the Snyderverse that either a project will have to directly address, or Gunn himself. Idris Elba’s Bloodsport was memorably imprisoned due to shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, though is still unknown if this was in reference to Corenswet’s or Henry Cavill’s.
Though a campaign for Zack Snyder’s DC film series to revive on Netflix has caught on, the idea faces some difficult truths in execution.
Additionally, Blue Beetle‘s infamous “Batman is a fascist” joke doesn’t have a clear indication as to which Batman the movie refers to, and a shot of the LexCorp building instead of LutherCorp, as shown in Superman and the rest of the DCU, has created a few inconsistencies. While the latter is easily resolvable through CGI touch-ups, much like the opening montage of Peacemaker season 2, there is also still the unknown fate of the original Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, which may very well be answered in the upcoming animated series.
Gunn’s indication that he’ll offer some definitive answers on the canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse is sure to come as a mixed update for fans of the prior franchise. On the one hand, should he confirm that a few elements from previous films are still remaining part of his new franchise plans, it may keep the ongoing hope alive for Gunn and Snyder to team together for either an Elseworlds continuation of the DCEU, or something more closely part of the current plan.
However, there is also the possibility that in the special podcast episodes, Gunn will officially shut down any further canonical connections between the DCU and Snyderverse. It would go a long way to help further set the new franchise apart from the previous one to fully write off any lingering ties between them. Given he indicates he wouldn’t have time to record said episodes until after Man of Tomorrow‘s release, it does seem likely that the answers won’t come until at least Fall 2027.
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Deadshot, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam
Movie(s)
Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold
The DC Universe is one of the biggest comic book franchises and often competes with Marvel. DC Comics started as National Allied Publications, founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935. Since then, the franchise has exploded with thousands of comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games. 2013 marked the beginning of the most recent iteration of the superheroes, with Zack Snyder introducing Henry Cavill as Superman. After several movies with mixed reviews, DC underwent a soft reboot under the helm of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
Last month, SNK revealed that Kenshiro, star of Fist of the North Star, would be the final Season 2 DLC character for Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves in June. However, that left May unspoken for, and fans were wondering who would fill the void.
Today, during a special presentation at Evo Japan, SNK unveiled the next DLC character would be another crossover character, but this time from a franchise in SNK’s portfolio: Mr. Karate, the mask-wearing martial artist from Art of Fighting, is next up–but this Mr. Karate is different from the one we’ve seen before.
In previous SNK fighting games, Mr. Karate has been an alter ego for Takuma Sakazaki, the father of Art of Fighting protagonist Ryo Sakazaki and the final boss of the first game. However, while this version of Mr. Karate sports the well-known Tengu mask, the man underneath is donning the long ponytail, suit, and gold chain of Robert Garcia, Ryo’s best friend and co-protagonist of Art of Fighting.
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In a title bout for the undisputed super bantamweight (junior featherweight) championship, Japanese fighter Naoya Inoue takes on fellow Japanese boxer Junto Nakatani in a 12-round match. What’s on the line? Inoue’s IBF, WBC and WBO World Super Bantam title belts. At the end of the contest, one of these fighters will have both titles — or it will end with a draw.
On Saturday, May 2, Inoue (32-0-0) vs. Nakatani (32-0-0) takes place at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan with a start time of 3 a.m. ET/12 a.m. PT. Ringwalk for the main event is expected around 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT.
Not a DAZN subscriber? Right now, you can purchase access to the event starting at $20.99/month. Additionally, DAZN’s “Ultimate Tier” plan goes for just $49.99/month to get access to this PPV event, as well as 11 other PPV events throughout the year at no extra cost. It’s just a flat monthly subscription price. The plan also have access to more than 100 live fights all year long, as well as fight replays, highlights and documentaries.
The fights during the Inoue vs. Nakatani event are free to watch for subscribers.
Naoya Inoue vs. Junto Nakatani Odds & Predictions
For the main event, Inoue is the favorite to heavy win against Nakatani. Oddsmakers give Naoya Inoue a -450 moneyline (bet $450 to win $100), while Junto Nakatani received a line of +310 (bet $100 to win $310), as the underdog. Want more odds? Check out the complete odds and wagers at BetMGM.com online here.
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Post Malone‘s “Big Ass Stadium Tour Part 2” just got smaller. The artist took to social media Friday night to announce that he was canceling the first few weeks of his outing in stadiums with Jelly Roll, saying that he wants to get his forthcoming album finished before hitting the road in earnest.
The cancellation affects the first six regularly scheduled dates on the Live Nation-produced joint tour, or almost a third of the North American dates altogether. The tour was to officially kick off May 13 at El Paso’s Sun Bowl Stadium, with the other scotched dates were to have taken place at stadiums in Waco, Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Tampa and Oxford, Miss.. Not counting three festival dates that the star plans to fulfill in the interim, the tour with Malone and Jelly Roll will now kick off three and a half weeks later than planned in Charlotte, NC on June 9.
Despite reports of slower-than-expected ticket sales, Malone was adamant in his message that a focus on getting through an epic album-in-progress was the reason for putting this first batch of dates on ice.
“Looking at the upcoming schedule after Stagecoach,” Malone wrote fans, “I came to the realization that what we’re trying to do, and what’s possible, isn’t really lining up. The truth is, I promised y’all beautiful people new music, and I don’t have the time to finish it before tour starts. We ain’t ready for tour just yet, so I’m making the decision to push the tour back about 3 weeks to get this music done.”
Malone has been touting a 40-track album on the way, to be titled “The Eternal Buzz.” No release date has been announced, nor have any other details beyond the title. Malone’s announcement indicates it still has a way to go to the finish line. (In an interview with Billboard at Stagecoach last weekend, Malone said he’d recorded “probably 35 songs” for the project but had only gotten as far as scratch vocals.)
“That being said,” Malone’s announcement continued, “I’m so sorry to the folks who were planing on coming to the few canceled shows. I was looking forward to going nuts with y’all. That THAT being said, we been making some badass shit for this double album… and I can’t wait to perform for y’all again.”
The pushing back of the start of the tour comes on the heels of widespread reports that ticket sales have been soft for many dates on the tour, in contrast to last summer’s initial “Big Ass Stadium Tour” by Malone and Jelly Roll, which sold out every date and grossed a reported $170 million. The disparity between last year’s sales and this year’s was the subject of a Lefsetz Report newsletter that went out to music industry readers shortly before Malone made his announcement.
Neither Malone nor Jelly Roll has had an album out since 2024. The thinking may be that if Malone can get “The Eternal Buzz” and/or a hit single into the marketplace sooner rather than later, it could goose ticket sales for the remaining dates, in the same way that the popularity of “F-1 Trillion” a year and a half ago undoubtedly spurred a rush on the sold-out 2025 tour.
Industry observers have engaged in debate about why this year’s tour has so far not seemed as hot as the red-hot outing last summer. Most of this year’s shows are not in the same cities as last year’s, so in most instances it isn’t a case of revisiting the same market too soon. Some have put it down to speculation or confusion over whether Malone will emphasize his country side or his hip-hop/rock side on the tour — and in the comments, it’s not hard to find fans who are hoping the concerts will veer more one way or the other — although, again, this did not seem to be a hindrance in 2025.
Malone may be aware of the guessing game going on about whether the forthcoming album and tour will lean one musical direction or another. He’s indicated “The Eternal Buzz” will have its 40 songs divided up into a two-part format (spread evenly across two CDs, in the physical realm), leaving some to wonder if he might be planning to divide it up among genres, as opposed to the strict country focus of “F-1 Trillion.”
The rapper-turned-rocker-turned-country-star may have hinted at a resolution that could mark at least a partial return to his roots, with a slightly cryptic comment tagged on to the end of Friday’s social media post.
“And to a lot of little stinkers that think I’ve forgotten about old Stoney, I haven’t,” he wrote. (“Stoney” was the title of his debut album in 2016.) “I love you, and can’t wait to see you crazy motherfuckers soon,” he concluded.
Once the Malone/Jelly Roll belatedly starts up in June, it will run through 13 shows in North America, with Carter Faith as opener (stepping in for last year’s support act, Sierra Ferrell). After a month and a half off, starting in mid-September, Malone will move his “Big Ass” tour to Asian territories, with hip-hop star Don Toliver taking Jelly Roll’s place on the bill overseas.
Malone nixing about a third of his U.S. stadium shows is actually on the less severe side of a recent rash of tour cancellations, just about all of which have been officially ascribed to personal circumstances and not headwinds in the concert economy. Earlier Friday, Zayn canceled his entire U.S. arena tour, although he is going on with the overseas portions, citing unspecified health issues. In mid-April, Meghan Trainor also called off her entire arena tour, citing a desire to spend time with her young children.
Gwen Farrell Adair, the actress known for playing various nurses on M*A*S*H, has died. She was 94.
Adair’s son announced that she died of natural causes on Thursday in Sherman Oaks.
Born in Austin, Texas, Farrell made her onscreen debut in the second episode of M*A*S*H in 1972, appearing on the CBS war comedy drama as various nurses throughout the show’s 11-season run that concluded in 1983.
During her time on the show, she played Nurses Gwen, Wilson, Butler and Able, as well as an anesthesiologist.
Farrell, who was married to LAPD Detective Frank Adair, also appeared in a 1975 episode of Starsky & Hutch, as well as movies like Black Gunn (1972), Soylent Green (1973), Coffy (1973), Earthquake (1974), Towering Inferno (1974) and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977).
In addition to acting, Farrell began managing Los Angeles boxers in the 1970s and became the first female licensed referee in ’79. She also owned and operated a Fatburger, which her mother Lovie Yancey founded in 1947.
“But beyond her accomplishments, Gwen was so much more to her family,” Farrell’s family wrote in a GoFundMe created for her funeral expenses. “She was a grandmother, a guiding light, and a steady source of love and wisdom. She had a way of making those around her feel supported, understood, and cared for without needing recognition.”
The family added, “Her passing leaves a deep void in our hearts, one that cannot be filled. We will miss her voice, her strength, and the quiet comfort she brought into our lives. While we are heartbroken, we are also incredibly grateful for the life she lived and the legacy she leaves behind.”
Hot Docs, the major nonfiction film festival in Toronto, has announced award winners for the event’s 33rd edition.
Earning Best International Feature Documentary was House of Hope, directed by Marjolein Busstra, a film set in the occupied West Bank that focuses on an elementary school run by a couple who teach their young Palestinian students non-violent resistance, “offering a refuge from the escalating uncertainty that surrounds them.”
The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation) and automatically qualifies the film for Oscar consideration.
‘House of Hope’
First Hand Films
“A powerful and unsentimental film that bears witness to a family-run Waldorf school in the West Bank and its profound commitment to nurturing the humanity of children,” writes the jury comprised of Robyn Citizen, Daniela Michel, and Lina Rodriguez. “For its clear-eyed portrait of educators whose quiet everyday resilience stubbornly insists on hope under the shadow of occupation and genocide, the jury enthusiastically presents Marjolein Busstra with the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award for House of Hope.”
Best Canadian Feature Documentary went to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen. The film reveals “the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo, ‘Saigon Execution,’ confronting family secrets left in the wake of the Vietnam War, exposing the resilience of survivors and blurred legacy of wartime memory.”
The award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Telefilm Canada). Hot Docs hosted the world premiere for Saigon Story.
The jury, comprised of Avril Benoît, Jason Gorber, and Yiqian Zhang, writes, “For this film’s illuminating look at the story behind an iconic image and the city where it was captured, its compelling analysis of the lasting effects of a conflict from more than a half century ago, and its deep dive into the complex historical, political and emotional aspects that expand well beyond the frame of one of the most haunting moments ever captured on film, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary award to Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom.”
Coincidentally, a short documentary about the legacy of the Eddie Adams “Saigon Execution” photo — On Healing Land, Birds Perch, directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood – made the Oscar shortlist this past year.
Courtesy of Hot Docs
The Hot Docs 2026 Awards Presentation was held Friday at El Mocambo in Toronto. The festival continues through Sunday. The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced on Sunday – with the winner receiving a $50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers. Winners of the Hot Docs Audience Award for feature and short documentary will be announced on Monday (May 4).
Scroll for the winners of awards in competition announced on Friday.
The festival’s Best International Short Documentary was presented to Replikka, directed by Piratá Waurá. “The short film offers an unforgettable look at Waura culture and their efforts to protect Indigenous land, traditions, and stories,” writes the jury, comprised of Fazila Amiri, Martin Edralin, and Shonna Foster. “Its beautiful cinematography and rhythmic sound design made a strong impression on the jury, in addition to its urgent call against the erasure of Indigenous culture and memory, and its unique perspective from within the Waura community.”
Best Canadian Short Documentary went to My Body Goes to Work, directed by Fernanda Molina. “In just 12 minutes, Fernanda Molina Perez Diez crafts an intimate and humanizing portrait of a Toronto sex worker, revealing the complexity behind job titles and underscoring the nature of care work in all its forms,” write jurors Amiri, Edralin, and Foster. “Raw and observant, the film left the jury in reflection on the everyday realities of sex work, reframing a life too often reduced to a label.”
Both Replikka and My Body Goes to Work earned $3,000 cash prizes and by virtue of winning at Hot Docs they automatically qualify for Oscar consideration.
Along with the above-mentioned films, these are the Hot Docs awards winners announced on Friday:
The Lindalee Tracey Award, which honors an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor, was presented to Özgün Gündüz. The Lindalee Tracey award includes a $5000 cash prize from the Lindalee Tracey Fund, $5000 in-kind voucher from the Picture Shop and a beautifully glass blown sculpture by Andrew Kuntz.
Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award is awarded to the documentary that receives the highest rating in the student audience poll was presented to Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min). At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighborhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.
The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.
Hot DocsEarl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. The award, which includes a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of the Earl A. Glick Family, was presented to Sébastien Trahan, the director of Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min). An investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault, unravelling our national pastime and questioning the institutions that hold the sport accountable.
Jury Statement: “For its journalistically rich examination of accountability and power and privilege within Canadian hockey, as well as the film’s amplification of voices calling for justice, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award to Sébastien Trahan for Code of Misconduct.”
Hot DocsBill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, sponsored by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund, which recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs 2026 official selection film who find and tell compelling stories that inspire social or political change, and encourage their audiences to change their attitudes or behaviours or strive for policy change, went to directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim of The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min).
[Film description]: When martial law was shockingly declared in 2024, the people of Seoul took to the streets to protect their democracy. Driven by memories of past dictatorships, this urgent reportage-style film captures a night of chaos and powerful, collective citizen resistance.
A $10,000 cash prize accompanies the award, supported by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund.
Jury Statement: “For a film of great urgency that speaks to the vagaries of political upheaval, the power of protest, and the foundational need for any free society to have an engaged press ready to pursue the truth in all of its messiness and meaningfulness, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary to the film team behind The Seoul Guardians, the directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim.”
Hot DocsEmerging International Filmmaker Award, supported by the R&M Lang Foundation, was awarded to Dawood Hilmandi, director of Paikar (D: Dawood Hilmandi | P: Frank Hoeve, Katja Draaijer | Netherlands | 2025 | 97 min). From exile in Amsterdam, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar, the Persian word for warrior. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during a pandemic transforms a lifetime of displacement into a story of survival.
The award is given to an international filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film, and includes a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the R&M Lang Foundation.
Jury statement: For its poetic meditation on transgenerational trauma that evocatively navigates the entanglement of memory, war and exile from a deeply personal perspective—initiating a moving dialogue across a lifetime of displacement, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award to Dawood Hilmandi for Paikar.”
Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary, sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was presented to Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min). At Nuxalk Radio, a ramshackled station on the edge of the world, an inquiry into the vanished ooligan fish uncovers a chilling history rooted in the attempted erasure of the Nuxalk people and their enduring resilience.
The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario.
Jury Statement: “For this film’s poignant look at Indigenous resistance and reclamation of past-traditions, illustrating a community grappling to resuscitate unceded lands, all while showing how the actions of a Nation foster healing by respecting what came before while working towards a better future, the Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature goes to Banchi Hanuse’s Ceremony.”
Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary, in memory of long time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was given to The 49th Year (D: Heidrun Holzfeind | P: Heidrun Holzfeind | Austria, Germany, Japan | 2026 | 88 min). Through thoughtful letters from prison, an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 reflects on his radical past. This meditative portrait pairs humane narration with contemporary Japanese landscapes, exploring the quiet tensions between aging, political militancy and time itself.
Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $5,000 cash prize, in memory of Joan VanDuzer.
Jury statement: “For its astute view on political ideologies and its meditative exploration of the true costs of radical action beyond isolated moments of protest and conventional electoral politics—and the ways in which periods of dissent can fade into enforced consensus, the jury recognizes Heidrun Holzfeind’s elegiac yet piercing attention to one man and the echoes of his resistance with the Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary.”
Canadian producer Jennifer Holness received the Hot Docs Don Haig Award, announced earlier in the Festival. The Award is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the Festival in recognition of their creative vision, entrepreneurship and track record for nurturing emerging talent, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.
Britney Spears was charged on Thursday with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol, a misdemeanor, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said.
The criminal complaint did not specify the type of drug that prosecutors say Ms. Spears had taken, and a spokesman for the district attorney’s office would not provide details.
Ms. Spears is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday in Ventura County Superior Court. In a news release, officials said she is not required to attend the arraignment because she faces only a misdemeanor charge.
A representative for Ms. Spears did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Spears was arrested on suspicion of D.U.I. on the evening of March 4, after officers observed her driving fast and erratically, according to Officer Ryan Ayers, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.
At the time, a representative for the pop star called the situation “an unfortunate incident that is completely inexcusable,” adding that “Britney is going to take the right steps and comply with the law, and hopefully this can be the first step in long-overdue change that needs to occur in Britney’s life.”
In the news release, prosecutors noted that Ms. Spears will have the opportunity to reach a plea deal that allows her to avoid jail time.
Prosecutors said that in cases that involve a low blood alcohol level and no crash or injury, defendants often reach such a resolution, especially when they also voluntarily enter a drug and alcohol treatment program. That sort of arrangement would involve probation, a D.U.I. class and a fine.
About a month after Ms. Spears’s arrest, a representative said she had voluntarily checked herself into a treatment facility. He declined to specify the type of program she had entered. The singer’s drug use has long been the subject of speculation during her years in the spotlight.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ms. Spears became one of the world’s biggest pop stars with chart-topping hits like “… Baby One More Time.” She also became a favorite target of tabloids and gossip publications, especially when falling out of line with the girl-next-door image that was once central to her brand. In 2007, for instance, she was seen with a shaved head, hitting a photographer’s car with an umbrella.
The next year, when she was 26, she was placed in a conservatorship that gave her father, Jamie Spears, control over her life and finances, even as she continued to make music and tour. After 13 years, she objected to the conservatorship in an impassioned speech to a judge, saying she had been drugged, compelled to work against her will and pushed into involuntary medical evaluations and rehab.
In Ms. Spears’s 2023 memoir, “The Woman in Me,” she disputed the idea that she had a persistent substance abuse problem. She wrote that her drinking had never been “out of control” and that her “drug of choice” had been Adderall, which is prescribed to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
In recent months, Ms. Spears’s posts on Instagram, where she regularly shared videos of herself dancing alone, raised alarm. She appeared disheveled or with bandages around her hands and wrists in some of the posts.
After her arrest in March, her representatives said her “loved ones are going to come up with an overdue needed plan to set her up for success for well-being.” She later posted videos of her spending time with her young-adult sons, with whom she has at times been estranged.
A Quiet Storm follows a family in suburban Tokyo where a mother’s attention is spread across two sons with vastly different needs. The film centers on one teenager’s internal battle to find himself within that imbalance of needs.
Maïto is a Japanese teen and a prodigy at krumping, the freestyle dance form built on explosive, exaggerated movement—stomps, chest pops, arm swings. In suburban Tokyo, he competes in freestyle dance battles. His mother coaches him. He’s been dancing seriously since childhood, and krumping is his way of expressing things he can’t articulate anywhere else.
His younger brother Ayumu has developmental challenges and requires most of their mother’s attention. She homeschools both boys and tries to raise them as normally as possible in this tenuous balance. Maïto learned early in life to need less, to be independent, and not to demand much. This apparent imbalance weighs heavily on Ayumu’s mother. She supports him, worries about him, and splits her attention between two sons in a way that never quite equals enough.
“He’s been dancing seriously since childhood, and krumping is his way of expressing things he can’t articulate anywhere else.”
One could argue that Maïto struggles to be seen at home, and krumping is a way for him to stand out in front of the crowd and on his own terms. Dance is all on Maïto. This is his passion, and this is how he chooses to express himself. He’s invested so much of his life into it that the young Maïto finds himself able to compete amongst the best in Japan.
Benjamin Nicolas found the film’s story in his own daughter’s need to move and express what she couldn’t say—raw, unfiltered, and through krumping. That led him to an eight-year-old Maïto on YouTube, dancing with the same urgency, but against a backdrop where Japan values order and silence above all else. What really got him, though, was a Zoom call with Maïto’s mother, Itsuka, that hit him emotionally. He realized the story was never really about krumping—it was about the silent dialogue between mother and son, where every sacrifice and glance holds pages of unsaid things.
I can only imagine what it’s like to raise a developmentally challenged child as a single parent. What we see in A Quiet Storm is a mother who so desperately wants to do right by both her children and is stretched to her limits to make that happen. On the other hand, Maïto understands the pressure his mother is under and, by necessity, chooses to become an independent adult way too soon.
That’s just it. We need to hear stories of individuals and families who refuse to be defined by their adversity, but instead overcome adversity as a way to define their character. A Quiet Storm does exactly that and needs to be seen. Plus, the krumping is exceptional, and be sure to stay to the end.
As the province prepares to close the Luugat single-room occupancy (SRO) building on Vancouver’s Granville Street by the end of June, it appears BC Housing doesn’t want the public to see inside the former hotel that taxpayers paid millions of dollars to convert to supportive housing during COVID.
“I’m happy to get out of there,” Luugat resident Stewart Holcombe said with a chuckle Friday.
Holcombe told Global News he and about a dozen other residents were moving to new homes on May 1, after they were told in September that the province would be finding them places equal to or better than 1176 Granville Street.
Holcombe said the bathroom roof in his fourth-floor unit at the SRO had caved in due to flooding from all the fires over the years, and his new accommodation in East Vancouver is way better.
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“It’s three times the size, it’s cheaper and I have, like, a full fridge, full stove,” he told Global News ahead of the planned move. “It’s a complete bachelor suite instead of just a little box.”
The Luugat had approximately 80 residents in the fall of 2025.
Granville cleanup concerns
As of April 27, 36 residents remained and all had been offered alternative housing, according to B.C.’s Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs.
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Although Holcombe disputes that claim and said some residents haven’t been offered any housing yet, the ministry said 18 residents have accepted offers and are waiting to move, while the remainder are “evaluating which housing option will work best for them”.
Another flood at Aura nightclub on the ground floor of the former Howard Johnson hotel on Fri. April 24 offered a glimpse of the living conditions in the supportive housing above.
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With the help of a plumber, bar owner Alan Goodall said he tracked the water to an overflowing toilet in a first-floor unit, which was piled with two to four feet of garbage – and no bed.
Global News wanted to give the public a clearer look inside after the building’s nearly six-year tenure as an SRO.
“It was destroyed in less than a year and a half,” Holcombe said in an interview. “Pretty sad.”
BC Housing denied Global News’ request to film the Luugat’s common areas and unoccupied rooms, stating it has an obligation to respect the privacy of current residents.
“For that reason, we will not be able to accommodate any media tour of the building,” the Crown corporation said in an email.
B.C. government closing one of three Granville SROs
In Oct. 2020, Global News was welcomed inside the building for a tour, just months after the province purchased the former hotel for $55 million to house people from encampments.
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Our cameras photographed a safer supply dispensing machine, the overdose prevention site above the lobby, and various residents in the elevators and hallways.
Atira, the housing operator at the time, spoke about the supports available for residents, including health care support workers.
“It was beautiful in the beginning,” recalled Holcombe.
BC Housing said it was happy to be able to accommodate Global News previously. There also appeared to be no privacy issues with residents at that time.
More than five years later and following multiple fires, floods and at least $1.87 million spent on building repairs and remediation, it appears BC Housing does not want taxpayers to see what’s left of the Luugat.
“All the stuff in the hallways, pictures were taken off the wall, the TVs were all taken and sold – like, it was destroyed in less than a year,” Holcombe said, adding he believes the public should be able to see the conditions. “Absolutely, yeah, it’s been destroyed like, it’s absolutely decimated in there, like there’s flood damage on every floor, there (are) multiple rooms you can’t even go in, the roofs are caving in.”
When pressed on access and what had changed since 2020, BC Housing said people in the building are in the process of having to move out.
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“This is a destabilizing and stressful moment in people’s lives and our focus is on supporting the move-out process for residents and the community,” the Crown corporation responded in an email.
Closer look at redevelopment plans for Granville Island
Holcombe, who survived a bizarre incident which saw him stuck in the building’s ventilation shaft for more than 24 hours in August 2024, said he’s optimistic for the next chapter of housing.
Vanessa Bryant is commemorating her late daughter Gianna’s birthday with a poignant post.
The widow of Kobe Bryanttook to Instagram on Friday, May 1, to mark what would have been her daughter’s 20th birthday.
“Happy birthday to my sweet baby angel, Gianna. Words can’t express how much I love and miss you mamacita,” Vanessa, 43, captioned the post, which featured a throwback image of herself kissing her daughter. “Mommy loves you so much! #HappyBirthday #20 💕💕”
Followers flocked to the comments section to share their support. LeBron James, Kim Kardashian, Kelly Rowland, La La Anthony, Kris Jenner, and Gianna’s older sister Natalia were among those who commented on the post with their love.
Kobe and Gianna – along with seven others – were tragically killed in a January 2020 helicopter crash while on the way to his Mamba Sports Academy for a basketball game. Kobe and Gianna were 43 and 13 respectively. (Kobe and Vanessa also shared daughters Natalia, 23, Bianka, 9, and Capri, 6.)
Each year, Vanessa remembers Gianna and Kobe on their respective birthdays.
“Happy birthday, Gigi! Mommy loves and misses you more than I could ever express. I love you Gianna. ❤️19 ♉️ 5/1 #Mambacita,” posted Vanessa last year.
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
In 2024, Vanessa reflected on what could have been as she marked what would have been Gianna’s 18th birthday.
“Happy birthday to my gorgeous girl, Gigi! I love you. I miss you. I’m so proud of you,” she wrote via Instagram at the time. “2024 was your year. You would’ve been graduating high school and choosing which college to go to. (I would’ve been trying my hardest to convince you to stay close to home).”
A lasting love. Kobe Bryant and Vanessa Bryant’s decades-long romance came to a tragic end when the NBA legend died on January 26, 2020. Despite their relationship’s heartbreaking conclusion, their romance was filled with many highs over the years. The love between Kobe and Vanessa began not long after the duo first met in November […]
Meanwhile, Vanessa shared an emotional tribute to Kobe in August 2025 to mark what would have been the NBA star’s 47th birthday.
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“We love and miss you and Gigi so much,” Vanessa wrote via Instagram alongside a photo of the couple sharing a kiss. “Sending our love to you. Happy birthday, baby. @kobebryant ❤️.”
Vanessa and Kobe first met on the set of Eastsidaz’s “G’d Up” music video in 1999, where Vanessa was working as a backup dancer. They tied the knot in 2001 before welcoming their daughters.
Following Kobe and Gianna’s deaths, Vanessa sued Los Angeles County for invasion of privacy and negligence after Sheriff’s Office and Fire Department employees took and distributed photos of the helicopter crash. In August 2022, she was awarded $16 million in damages. The following year, she settled for nearly $29 million, all of which was donated to the Mamba & Mambacita Sports Foundation.
Bill Maher grilled Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) over his defamation suit against Fox News, warning the politician that he was starting to sound more and more like Donald Trump.
The California governor stopped by “Real Time With Bill Maher” on Friday, where he was asked to explain how his suit against Fox News differed from Trump’s various defamation lawsuits against legacy media.
“Many people would say that you are imitating him,” Maher noted after the governor called out the president’s “sewer” rhetoric. “Among all the people who may — or may not — be running, you’re the one who kind of imitates his style with the trolling. You’re suing Fox now, I understand it.”
In response, Newsom noted, “We’re going into discovery. Fox better look to sell or apologize for defamation.”
At this comment, Maher pushed back, calling out Newsom for sounding “exactly” like Trump in that moment.
“Well, don’t defame. Don’t lie,” Newsom doubled down, which Maher reiterated sounded an awful lot like Trump’s stance against the press.
“Here’s the point, I’m trying to put a mirror up to Donald Trump, and I think it’s important — with a sense of humor, as well,” Newsom said. “The deviation of normalcy is off the chart. This is a guy cosplaying as the pope. Dressing up as Jesus. Putting his face on Mount Rushmore. None of this is normal.”
Newsom then called out Fox for slamming his social media behavior — which was meant to emulate Trump’s own posts — as “unbecoming.”
“No situational awareness that their dear leader has been doing this for years and years and years,” he continued. “He’s a manchild. And so, I think it’s important to call that out … But, again, we’re not trying to dehumanize, we’re just trying to reflect that reality and express the absurdity.”
Watch the exchange below.
Newsom’s defense of his defamation suit against Fox News and host Jesse Watters came a day after he scored a small legal victory in the case, as a Delaware judge ruled that his $787 million lawsuit can move forward.
As we previously reported, Judge Sean P. Lugg found it “reasonably conceivable” that Fox intentionally pushed false claims about Newsom when accusing him of lying about a phone call with Donald Trump during protests in Los Angeles.
“We respectfully disagree with the court’s decision and plan to vigorously defend against this frivolous lawsuit as it’s nothing more than a blatant attempt to silence free speech and weaken the First Amendment,” Fox News Media said in a statement to TheWrap on Thursday.
Fox filed to dismiss the lawsuit last August, calling the governor’s suit a political stunt.
“If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump’s behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case,” Newsom said after he first filed the suit last year. “I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet. Until Fox is willing to be truthful, I will keep fighting against their propaganda machine.”
Taj Jackson, the nephew of Michael Jackson, called on fans to “stop trusting the tabloids” after a report suggested the late King of Pop’s family was looking to “cash in” amid the “Michael” movie’s success.
Taj, an original member of the group 3T, took to X on Friday evening and called out the New York Post, claiming a recent article was nothing more than “clickbait.”
“Do I have to drag you again, @nypost? Leave my family alone with your lies and clickbait articles,” Taj wrote on his social media account. “You and your fake sources. A ‘family source’ … blah blah blah.”
He added: “Stop trusting the tabloids.”
The article in-question made claims about a possible Jackson family tour following the biopic’s success, with La Toya Jackson, Rebbie Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Jackie Jackson and Marlon Jackson all reportedly committed to the new venture. The outlet stated there were efforts to get Janet Jackson involved, as well.
A representative for the New York Post did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Last week, Taj posted on X that the media didn’t “get to control the narrative anymore of who Michael Jackson truly was,” adding, “The public gets to watch this movie…they will decide for themselves. And you can’t handle that.”
He followed this post up with a celebratory one, as the “Michael” movie received an A- on CinemaScore and 94% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes in the first few days of the film’s release.
“The Michael movie is clearly bringing people together and leaving them feeling joy and happiness,” he added online. “That sounds exactly like my uncle Michael… Michael Jackson never gave the world what it thinks it wants, he gave the world what it truly needs.”
Still, the movie has faced its fair share of criticism as well, with James Safechuck, one of the two subjects who alleged Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children in HBO’s 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland,” calling the film’s release “triggering.”
The singer faced 10 charges in 2005 tied to the alleged sexual abuse of a 13-year-old. After denying all of the allegations against him and participating in a 14-week trial, Jackson was acquitted on all counts. However, the controversy resurfaced in 2019 when the aforementioned documentary brought about new allegations from two of Jackson’s alleged victims.
While Lip Critic were touring their 2024 debut album Hex Dealer across the U.S., vocalist Brett Kaser’s banking information was stolen by an obsessed fan. After noticing that one of the items purchased was the entire Lip Critic discography on Bandcamp, Kaser was later confronted by the fan at one of their shows, who claimed to have decoded hidden messages in their music. Rather than report the thief, the band interviewed him on his theories, using them—in ways they haven’t fully elucidated—for their new record, Theft World.
“I would sell my soul just to have that thing I can’t pin down,” barks Kaser on “Drumming With Izzy.” His confetti-blast lyrics cover all sorts of thievery: Shoplifting, the predatory gambling industry, his heart being stolen. But this line really captures how it feels trying to make sense of this inscrutable and slippery album, which at once feels like a thief evading capture and an impenetrable vault.
No score yet, be the first to add.
You could say it’s an album about the dynamic between various thieves and their various marks, but Theft World’s labyrinthine lyric sheet feels designed to confound. Beyond the comically clear-cut take in “Shoplifting,” where God informs a Gatorade-stealing child, “You’re not getting to heaven,” Theft World’s victims are often made complicit. The gambler in “Jackpot” implies some shared responsibility with the predators draining their account as they “spin the wheel with a dying urge,” just as the financially ruined speaker in “Debt Forest” acknowledges that in having “lost control” they essentially stole from themselves.
Kaser’s masterstroke is in compounding these questions of agency with his deft writing style—there are motifs of holes, bottles, and explosions. The speaker in “Debt Forest” feels like they could be the protagonist from the preceding track “Jackpot.” There’s a tantalizing sense the record might have some linear narrative, if you could just figure out how to put the pieces in the right order. The songs teem with half-drawn characters that delight in this same obfuscation. “You threw the papers in the deep fryer,” Kaser declares in “Talon,” “cranked up at 388!”
Theft World’s music reflects that shiftiness through writhing collages of hardcore, glitch-pop and industrial. At a glance, it resembles the gritty, metallic sound of Mandy, Indiana’s URGH, but this album is more of a trip to the fairground than Berghain. It’s fast-paced and brightly colored, in choices like the bouncing sawtooth synths in “Two Lucks,” doo-wop backing vocals in “Legs In a Snare,” and slot machine burbles in “Jackpot.” Kaser’s voice, less reliant on effects than on Hex Dealer, contorts into tones variously resembling Danny Brown and Gilla Band’s Dara Kiely.
But this twisting, agitated record sometimes reveals a softer side. “Shoplifting” and “200 Bottles On Eviction” have plaintive choruses, backed by sustained organs. The ecstatic “Jackpot” closes with Kaser singing dejectedly over a soft, pulsing synth melody of “those feelings you swallow down.” These flashes of melancholy or yearning give the record complexity and depth, as well as stopping it from devolving into wackiness.
There’s also a romantic thread: “You are the hell that I made for myself,” Kaser cries on “Two Lucks,” punctuating his stories about stealing with fleeting depictions of unfulfilling relationships. Is he suggesting that these relationships represent a kind of theft—stealing time and self-worth? Is it a play on having his heart “stolen”? The questions prompt interesting reflections on romance and ownership: what it means to take or lose hold of someone’s attention, and the unhealthiness that dynamic can breed. This is the best way to approach the album—as an impressionistic work that rewards the questions and ideas it stirs, rather than a puzzle demanding a solution. Its knotted discussions of agency and morality take a backseat to how alive its characters feel in this illicitly exciting world.
Long before Thor was transformed into Marvel’s comic relief character, Kenneth Branagh introduced Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder as something of a Shakespearean hero.
Between 2011’s Thor and its sequel Thor: The Dark World, Branagh established the grandeur of Asgard, positioned Thor, Loki, and Odin as royal figures, and infused the story with the kind of drama and intrigue fitting of kings.
15 years after the epic saga began, Kenneth Branagh sat down with Business Insider to reflect on the franchise’s early days.
Photo: Marvel
“The basic declaration was that the story and the characters would take themselves seriously; I would not take myself seriously; that’s what was established,” Branagh recalled.
Finding the Leads
Before creating the world of Thor, Branagh and Marvel head Kevin Feige had to find the right actors to play the leads.
Photo: Marvel Studios
When casting Thor, the team wanted a new actor who could combine freshness with physical presence. That was Hemsworth.
Loki, on the other hand, needed to balance “razor wit” and passion. Tom Hiddleston fit the bill.
Source: Marvel Studios
“I remember when we cast Chris and Tom; it was a Saturday morning at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. Kevin Feige walked around the central table in this little room that he and I were in,” Branagh explained.
Photo: Marvel Studios
“He must have gone around it 10,000 steps, muttering sometimes to me, and sometimes as if I wasn’t there; he was sort of hallucinating, saying, ‘This is the most important decision we will ever make.’ It was clear it had taken a long time to get to this moment, and now we really needed to be certain. It was like talking someone off the ledge. My job that morning was just to say, ‘No, it’s Chris, and it’s Tom.’”
Drawing on the Literary Canon
When setting the tone for his Thor films, Branagh drew inspiration from classic literature.
Photo: Marvel Studios
He even had Hemsworth memorize the St. Crispin’s Day monologue from Henry V.
“We did. We were always going into what you would call the underneath of the character, so we knew that at various times, he needed to feel as though he was going to inspire people to follow him,” he recalled.
Photo: Polygon
“So, yes. We did do some work on that. We talked about The Odyssey, we talked about all the stories that have the trials and tribulations of young men on the road to acquiring wisdom through adventures.”
“Amazing films. I mean that. I watched them with a mix of tremendous pride and amazement at the many ways such stories can go. And I think it’s a tribute to what Kevin saw in the potential for a character and a world,” he reflected.
“To see how elastic it’s been in encompassing a different kind of adventure, different kind of humor, different drive to the narrative, it’s been an absolute fascination on how that’s developed.”
Photo: Variety
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James Gunn finally reveals why he did not do a full reboot of the DCU and kept titles like Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad, which were part of the DCEU. The original assumption was that Gunn was selectively keeping the projects he created as part of his new DCU continuity and retroactively making them part of his larger DC Universe. While that is the case, it appears there was also a behind-the-scenes business factor that motivated the Peacemaker cast to be brought in.
On Threads, Gunn confirmed that a complete reboot of the DCU was not done because of the contracts that were already in place for Peacemaker Season 2. Gunn reveals that the show’s return was already in development when he was hired as co-head of DC Studios, and scrapping it would not only have meant paying out all the money invested in development, but also getting rid of what was a hit series for HBO Max. In the end, Gunn does confirm that the decision was also motivated by his love of the Peacemaker cast, as he thought they could play a larger role in his DCU.
“Peacemaker Season 2 deals were all in place when I became head of DC. It was either break everyone’s contracts and pay out all that money and take away HBO Max’s biggest show at the time or find a way to make it work. I chose the latter. Mostly tho because I love the character and the show and thought he/they could be an important part of the DCU.”
HBO Max
Gunn’s instincts to keep Peacemaker part of the DCU have certainly paid off. John Cena’s cameo as Peacemaker in Superman drew reactions from audiences and immediately played into the idea that the DCU was one big playground. Then, Peacemaker Season 2 laid some important foundations for the DCU moving forward, including the formation of the organization Checkmate and the setup of a loose adaptation of the Salvation Run arc from the comics, which will seemingly be a big overarching story in the universe.
As for the challenge of bringing Peacemaker Season 1, a series firmly set in the DCEU, into the DCU, it was rather simple. The second season wastes no timeretconning the Season 1 finale, swapping out the Justice League for the Justice Gang, now featuring silhouettes of Superman and Supergirl alongside Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl. In fact, Gunn’s DCEU titles, like The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker Season 1, had a stronger sense of DC history, with references to characters and events that didn’t always align with the now-defunct universe.
While Gunn has so far only folded in previous DC stories in which he was involved, he appears to be open to bringing in more. Creature Commandos featured a cameo of Blue Beetle in one of Circe’s visions, confirming Gunn’s comments that 2023’s Blue Beetle would be “the first new DCU character,” even if the story isn’t fully canon to the universe. Xolo Maridueña is expected to reprise his role in the Blue Beetle animated series. Gunn’s DCU approach to continuity is rather simple: keep what works and start new when needed, just like DC Comics.
May’s video game release dates include big blockbusters like Forza Horizon 6 and 007: First Light, alongside smaller oddities like My Little Puppy and Froggy Hates Snow.
So far, the start of the year has seen big new games like Resident Evil Requiem, Pokémon Pokopia, Saros, Pragmata, and more released for consoles and PC, but it’s possible the best is yet to come.
Annapurna’s latest narrative-driven adventure game follows three high school friends on their last big night out. “En route to their final party together, a perfectly curated playlist draws the trio into dreamlike reenactments of their formative memories.”
Supermassive Games returns with a new sci-fi horror thriller that naturally features a branching storyline, offering meaningful choices to the player. “Hunted by an alien organism capable of mimicking its prey, the crew of the Cassiopeia must outwit their pursuers to make it home alive.”
Following a legal saga that challenged the firing of its leadership team, Unknown Worlds is finally bringing Subnautica 2 to early access this month. The survival adventure game is set on an all-new alien ocean world, which players can explore alone or with friends.
Forza Horizon 6
Tuesday, May 19 (Xbox, PC)
Playground games kicks off a potentially prolific year with its latest installment in arguably the greatest racing franchise around right now. Set in Japan, players can race over 550 real-world cars and become a racing Legend in what Playground calls “Forza Horizon’s biggest open world driving adventure yet”.
Yoshi’s latest 2D platformer looks predictable in some ways, but surprisingly original in others. The Switch 2 game sees a talking encyclopedia named Mr. E suddenly fall from the sky onto Yoshi’s Island. Inside his pages, the Yoshis discover a wide variety of creatures and discover their unique characteristics.
Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight
Friday, May 22 (PS5, Xbox, PC)
The fourth game in the Lego Batman video game series features an original story in which Bruce Wayne creates bonds with trusted allies while facing off against Gotham City’s well-known DC Super-Villains, including The Joker, The Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Bane, and more.
007 First Light
Wednesday, May 27 (PS5, Xbox, PC)
Hitman developer IO Interactive takes on one of the biggest franchises of all with this original James Bond story, tackling the 00 Agent’s origins. Mixing Hitman-esque sandboxes with explosive Uncharted-style linear action, there’s plenty of optimism that this could be one of the best games of the year.
We know you probably aren’t just running outside, picking up a camera, and shooting a big action or sports sequence. You’re probably planning fight choreography and lighting and stunts, and your prep work is extending to your cinematography, too.
What’s one easy way to heighten your action sequences?
If you’ve spent any time studying cinematography, the 180-degree shutter rule is probably already familiar to you.
The 180-degree shutter rule establishes that your shutter speed should be double your frame rate. So if you’re shooting at 24fps, you’re setting your shutter to 1/48 or 1/50. The result is motion blur that looks natural to the human eye.
But what if breaking that rule on purpose is what your action scene needs? That’s what the DP Journey digs into in their video, using the training sequence from The Matrix as the example.
Quick note before we go further. We’re talking about shutter angle here, not the 180-degree line rule, meaning the one about camera placement and maintaining consistent screen direction when filming a scene. (On set, you’ll hear crew talking about “crossing the line” when referring to this rule.)
The term “shutter angle” dates back to the earliest film cameras. The shutter, which controlled how much light hit the film (exposure time), could at one point only be opened to a maximum of 180 degrees. A more open shutter leads to longer exposure time and more motion blur.
Two different things that share a number. Easy to mix up, but know the difference.
What Is Shutter Drag?
The resulting visual blur is called shutter drag. Push your shutter angle past 180 degrees, and you get more motion blur than your audience expects, which translates to a heightened sense of speed and energy.
Most cameras let you set this directly as a shutter angle. If your camera only offers shutter speed rather than shutter angle, experiment with settings slower than double your frame rate.
The DP Journey shoots the demonstration on a GH7 cranked all the way to 357 degrees, adds a subtle slider move, and some camera shake, and the result reads as kinetic.
Why the 180-Degree Rule Isn’t the Law
As we’ve already mentioned, the 180-degree shutter rule came from mechanical film cameras, where the physical shutter disc maxed out at a half-rotation before it had to advance the film. Digital cameras obviously don’t have that constraint, so we can push things now.
Going the other direction on angle is equally instructive. In Saving Private Ryan, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski used a mix of different shutter angles.
“We shot a lot of the film with the camera shutter set at 45 or 90 degrees,” he toldAmerican Cinematographer. “The 45-degree shutter was especially effective while filming explosions. When the sand is blasted into the air, you can see every particle, almost every grain, coming down. That idea was born out of our tests, and it created a definite sense of reality and urgency.”
He did a lot of things that produced sharper, choppier frames and that now-iconic war movie look.
The DP Journey points out something in that same Matrix sequence. There’s a stylized strobing, echoing hand effect that the Wachowskis layered on top by the end of the scene.
Shutter drag is the foundation, with a VFX echo effect layered on top, two tools working together to signal that Neo is no longer operating at a human speed. (He’s the One.) The cinematography/VFX decisions support the story, just as Kaminski’s choices did in his war film.
So, go experiment on your next action or sports scene.
We already knew it costs a lot of money to launder Michael Jackson’s reputation, but Lionsgate apparently thought it could cheap out on Nia Long in the process. This is per a new report from Puck‘s Matthew Belloni, who reports this morning that Long was paid less than her costars Colman Domingo and Miles Teller, despite having a “favored nations” clause in her contract. The clause was supposed to ensure she wouldn’t be paid less than her costars, but since she was, Belloni reports that Long is threatening to take Lionsgate to mediation over the issue.
It’s unclear whether the various changes that were made to the film for legal reasons have anything to do with the pay discrepancy, but Belloni reports that a decent portion of Long’s scenes as family matriarch Katherine Jackson were cut from the final product, including a fairly major moment that presumably occurred after 1988. (Belloni says that he read an original draft of the script, which is how he reported last year that the original third act of the film was going to try to convince audiences that Michael was the victim of a false smear campaign.) However, it was reported last week that the cuts and reshoots ended up significantly boosting the salary of director Antoine Fuqua and Graham King. Again, there’s no reason to think these things are directly related at this point, but if the reports of Long’s salary are true, it’s certainly a bad look for a project that’s already had plenty of them.
NBC has canceled the medical drama “Brilliant Minds” after two seasons and the mockumentary comedy “Stumble” after one season, Variety has learned.
“Brilliant Minds” is based on the books “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” and “An Anthropologist on Mars” by Oliver Sacks. The series stars Zachary Quinto as neurology physician Oliver Wolf, following “Dr. Wolf and his team at Bronx General as they delve into medical mysteries of the mind,” per the official logline. “Ultimately, they come face-to-face with the question: Who deserves care?”
Season 1 of “Brilliant Minds” ran from September 2024 to January 2025, with Season 2 premiering in September 2025 and running for 14 episodes before NBC pulled it off the schedule in February as viewership dropped off. The series will return with its remaining six episodes beginning on May 27.
Along with Quinto, “Brilliant Minds” stars Tamberla Perry, Ashleigh LaThrop, Alex MacNicoll, Aury Krebs, Spence Moore II, Teddy Sears, Donna Murphy, John Clarence Stewart, Brian Altemus and Al Calderon.
Michael Grassi created the series and executive produces alongside Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, Leigh London Redman, Lee Toland Krieger, DeMane Davis, Jasmine Russ, Henrik Bastin, Jonathan Cavendish, Andy Serkis and Shefali Malhoutra.
“Stumble” was set in the world of junior college cheerleading. In the series, a celebrated cheerleading coach (Jenn Lyon) was fired after being caught drinking with her team. She wound up coaching at a junior college in Oklahoma, where she hoped to put together a team that could win the national championship.
The show had its debut back in November, with the now series finale airing in March. The show was mostly well received by critics, but failed to find a wide enough audience to justify its renewal.
Lyon led the cast along with Taran Killam, Ryan Pinkston, Jarrett Austin Brown, Anissa Borrego, Arianna Davis, Taylor Dunbar, and Georgie Murphy. Kristin Chenoweth also appeared in a recurring role.
“Stumble” hailed from Jeff Astrof and Liz Astrof, who served as writers and executive producers. Jeff Blitz directed multiple episodes, including the pilot, and served as executive producer. Dana Honor and Monica Aldama were also executive producers on the show. Universal Television was the studio.
With these cancellations, the only NBC comedy awaiting word on a second season is the midseason entry “The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins” starring Tracy Morgan and Daniel Radcliffe. The sophomore drama “The Hunting Party” is also still on the bubble.
For the first time in years, NBC has also ordered several pilots in contention for the 2026-2027 broadcast season. Those include a reboot of “The Rockford Files” starring David Boreanaz and a PI comedy from Dan Goor and Luke Del Tredici. Those pilots in particular are seen as strong contenders for series orders, while the network is also considering a number of other procedural and comedy pilots.
Three middle-aged couples who vacation together every season find their group dynamics upended when one of the men ditches his wife for a younger woman.
Certificate:PG Parental Guidance suggested
Year: 1981
Duration: 1hr 47m
Audio: English – Audio Description, English [Original], Spanish (Latin America)
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is the latest politician to back an unlimited state tax incentive for film and TV production, following a similar move by her rival, Councilwoman Nithya Raman, last week.
Bass is facing a tough fight for reelection on June 2, and the dramatic downturn in production jobs has become a key issue in the race. As Assembly speaker, Bass helped pass the state’s original production credit lottery of $100 million. It has since grown to $750 million annually.
On Friday, she called for eliminating the cap entirely — though, like others, without offering an estimate of what that would cost.
“We are in a global battle for entertainment jobs, and we must hold nothing back in our fight,” Bass said in a statement. “This is about an industry that is essential to our middle class and who we are as a city.”
Raman called for an uncapped tax credit on April 21, saying it was important to give studios certainty that they would receive a state subsidy if they choose to film in California.
“Los Angeles is losing Hollywood,” Raman said at the time. “Not because productions want to leave, but because we’ve made it too hard for them to stay.”
In her statement on Friday, Bass also said she opposes Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery — unless it can be done without costing jobs.
“I cannot support a deal that results in massive job losses,” Bass said. “I urge federal regulators to enforce job protections and creative freedom during the approval process, and I call on Paramount’s leadership to redouble its commitment to the industry workers in our city.”
The mayor of Los Angeles has no formal role in setting state subsidy levels, which are controlled by the Legislature and the governor. Past L.A. mayors — including Antonio Villaraigosa and Eric Garcetti — have long made a point of lobbying Sacramento to protect their hometown industry. Bass also appeared alongside Gov. Gavin Newsom when he announced his intention to increase the program to $750 million in 2024, and when he signed the bill into law in 2025.
Villaraigosa, who is now running for governor, was among the first to call for eliminating the cap. He was soon joined by Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, and by Steve Hilton, the leading Republican in the race.
At the local level, Bass has also announced a pilot program to cut permit fees for “low impact” productions and a discount on parking costs for a year. Raman has challenged Bass on not paying enough attention to the issue, saying she waited too long to appoint a film czar, and then picked someone without industry experience. Bass’ team has countered that Raman took no action on the issue during five years on the council.
Spencer Pratt, the reality TV star who entered the race after his home burned down in the Palisades fire, has said there should be “no fees” on productions.
“It’s time to bring this business back,” Pratt said in a podcast interview last month. “We need everybody to be able to work.”
When we think of cerulean blue, it’s not hard to think of one of fashion’s most memorable movie scenes. Miranda Priestly made it clear in the original The Devil Wears Prada: It was never just a blue. Cerulean is proof that a shade can start far away—on a catwalk, in a collection, in the mind of a creative—and end up months later in everyday life as if it had always belonged there.
And this spring and summer, as The Devil Wears Prada 2 hits theaters, the color has returned to our wardrobes even stronger than before. It has light, it has structure, and it has a rare ability to make an outfit look more refined than before. On an impeccable shirt, a well-draped skirt, or a crisp shirt dress, cerulean blue instantly elevates.
Edward Berthelot/Getty Images
This summer, cerulean blue is more than a passing nod—it’s a discerning choice. And when it comes to styling the color, this tone finds its best self when paired with clean white, soft sand, or precise black. Keep reading for how to style cerulean blue in 2026.
With a crisp button-down
This is not a blue that can be worn casually or carelessly. Wear it with intention, with clean lines and a cheerful elegance. Wear it in garments that have a presence of their own, like a structured shirt, a wide skirt, a midi-dress with a defined waist, or an impeccable pair of pants. That’s why it looks so good with a crisp white button-down and accessories with a touch of silver. With these partners, cerulean doesn’t look childish. It’s polished and perfectly put together.
J.Crew Étienne Oversized Shirt
Old Navy x The Devil Wears Prada Cerulean Wide-Leg Jeans
Out in the field, a documentarian can point their camera anywhere, but in the darkness of the editing room, the real choices are made that turn that footage into an emotional, coherent and compelling story. That’s why the Film Independent Documentary Story Lab chooses to focus on getting those cuts as sharp as possible and supporting doc directors as they bring the pieces of their film together on the timeline.
Film Independent is proud to announce nine filmmakers selected for its 2026 Documentary Story Lab — a one-week intensive program kicking off May 4.
“This year’s Documentary Story Lab Fellows are engaging with questions of truth, legacy and survival in ways that are both deeply personal and broadly resonant,” said Daniel Cardone, Senior Manager of Documentary Programs & Fiscal Sponsorship at Film Independent. “These projects take on complex, often unresolved subjects—from a decades-long mystery in the American West to environmental injustice and cultural preservation—with a level of depth and access that demands careful, intentional storytelling.”
Fellows will be paired with a talented roster of Editing Mentors, including Alejandro Valdes-Rochin (Maxima), Claire Didier (Enigma), Pablo Proenza (Natchez), Christy Denes ACE (Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal), Veronica Pinkham (Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me), and Inbal B. Lessner ACE (Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult).
Guest speakers and Directing Advisors bring an impressive depth of experience to the program, including composers Gil Talmi and Andrew Gross, distribution specialists Orly Ravid and Annalisa Shoemaker, industry veteran Sarba Das, and Film Independent Fellows Alysa Nahmias (Cookie Queens) and Smriti Mundhra (Indian Matchmaking). Additional Directing Advisors include Michèle Stephenson (Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project), Jeremy Workman (Secret Mall Apartment), and David Osit (Predators).
This year’s Lab also includes the Cayton-Goldrich Family Foundation Fellowship — a $10,000 unrestricted cash grant awarded to a Jewish filmmaker participating in a Film Independent Artist Development Program. The 2026 recipient is fellow Cecilia Brown, who is developing her project A Bird with a Knife.
The Documentary Story Lab has an impressive alumni list. Notable projects that have come through the program include Daniel Lombroso’s Manhood (SXSW 2026), Suzannah Herbert’s Natchez (Tribeca 2025, Winner Best Documentary), and Harvest (Tribeca 2026), directed by Natalie Baszile and Hyacinth Parker.
Film Independent’s broader documentary programs have also supported Academy Award-nominated films Ascension (Jessica Kingdon) and Minding the Gap (Bing Liu and Diane Quon) — the latter also a Film Independent Spirit Award winner — along with work from Academy Award winner Shane Boris (Navalny), Academy Award nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love), and Emmy Award winner Lana Wilson (Brooke Shields: Pretty Baby).
The Documentary Story Lab is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The 2026 Documentary Story Lab projects and Fellows are:
Cecilia Brown
Cecilia Brown is a documentary director, editor and producer based in Portland, OR, and co-founder of Sideyard Studios. Brown’s directing and producing credits include award-winning shorts Oh Whale (2025, Producer), and Strong Grandma (2024, Co-director & Editor, New Yorker Magazine). She has edited multiple documentary shorts including Swept (2025 Emmy Nominee for Best Short Documentary), Teddy (2025), and Walking Two Worlds (Tribeca, 2022). Brown’s work has been supported by The Catapult Development Fund and SF MOMA, and published by HBO, The New Yorker, This American Life, Arc’teryx and The North Face, among others. She has also been awarded ‘Best Oregon Filmmaker’ by McMinnville Film Festival. Brown has a Master’s in Multimedia Journalism from the University of Oregon.
Winslow Crane-Murdoch
Winslow Crane-Murdoch is an award winning director and cinematographer based in Portland, OR, and co-founder of Sideyard Studios. His first documentary feature, The Quiet Epidemic, had its World Premiere at HotDocs 2022, and received a national theatrical release culminating in a screening at Congress. His latest documentary short, Oh Whale (2025), is currently on the festival circuit, winning the jury award for best short documentary at Montclair and New Hampshire film festivals. He co- directed and shot Strong Grandma (2024) which screened at the Paris Olympics and was acquired by The New Yorker Magazine. Crane-Murdoch’s work has appeared on HBO, TIME Magazine, Outside TV, the San Francisco MOMA, and has been supported by the Catapult Film Fund.
A Bird with a Knife Logline: A Bird with a Knife explores the 50-year mystery surrounding thousands of cattle mutilations across the American West. Following a veteran investigator, an Oregon sheriff and the ranchers whose cases they’re working to solve, this film is about folklore, faith and the stories we tell when no absolute truth exists.
Èlia Gasull Balada
Èlia Gasull Balada is a NAACP Image Award-nominated visual artist and filmmaker. In 2021, she was listed in the DOC NYC 40 under 40 list, and in 2023 she was selected to be part of the Berlinale Talents. She has extensively worked as an editor and writer for documentaries and narrative films. Her most recent credits include The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (Tribeca 2022), which won a Peabody Award and a Gracie Award, and received a Television Academy Honor. The Emmy and Peabody nominee The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show (Tribeca 2021) and the Emmy and Grammy nominee The King (Cannes 2017). On the narrative side, she edited Son of Monarchs, winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. For the past six years, Gasull Balada has been working on a mixed media installation that honors a group of Indigenous women from the Peruvian Amazon who suffered the trauma of forced sterilization at the hands of President Alberto Fujimori’s government between 1995 and 2000 — and their agency as artists and activists today. The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs is her directorial debut.
The Hummingbird Paints Fragrant Songs Logline: After a lifetime of hardship, 75-year-old Indigenous artist Sara Flores emerges from the Peruvian Amazon into the global contemporary art scene. As she confronts the emotional and physical toll that comes with being in the spotlight, she defies the lure of material wealth and transforms her art and legacy into a force for the territorial and cultural resistance of the Shipibo Nation.
Alex J. Bledsoe
Alex J. Bledsoe is a filmmaker whose work illuminates daily life on the frontlines of racial capitalism, and the portals we create for our physical and psychospiritual liberation. Oaklead, her debut feature documentary, follows Oakland community members as they fight to protect one another from lead poisoning in their own homes and schools – and uncover a century of environmental racism. Oaklead is a grantee of Sundance, Berkeley Film Foundation, Redford Center, Fund for Investigative Journalism, Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, a BAVC MediaMaker, and Cucalorus/Working Films/Documentary Accountability Working Group Works-in-Progress Lab Fellow, and California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow.
Bledsoe produced the scripted feature film, Residue, about gentrification in Washington, D.C., which streamed on Netflix after screening at Venice International Film Festival and being distributed by Ava Duvernay’s Array. Residue won the John Cassavetes Award and was nominated for Best Editing at the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Bledsoe is the co-founder of Breaktide, the all women-of-color-owned film production company. She has been a guest columnist for the Washington Post, and a live featured guest on KQED Forum for her filmmaking and activism. Bledsoe earned her B.S. in International Politics from Georgetown University.
Oaklead Director: Alex J. Bledsoe Logline: In Oakland, California, we fight to protect our children from lead poisoning in our own homes and schools—and confront over a century of environmental racism. This is the story of the longest ongoing pediatric epidemic in U.S. history.
Katyayani Kumar
Katyayani Kumar is a director, editor, and writer working across documentary and fiction. Kumar is drawn to stories in the margins, where what slips into the shadows of society waits to be rediscovered. A fellow of UnionDocs in New York and incoming editing fellow at the American Film Institute, Kumar was selected by Academy Award–winning producer Guneet Monga to represent India at TIFF as part of the Women in Film delegation. Kumar’s films, including Coffined at Fifteen and Beholder, have screened internationally. Kumar is currently directing Sons of the River, supported by DOC NYC, HotDocs, Film Bazaar, and more.
Sons of the River Logline: As bodies surface daily in Punjab’s Bhakra Canal, two rivals retrieve the dead from its wake, revealing a life-and-death struggle over power, morality and survival in a society abandoned by the state.
Vanessa Carr
Vanessa Carr is a documentary cinematographer specializing in character-driven vérité. Her work has appeared on HBO, Netflix, and Disney+, and premiered at Sundance, TIFF, SXSW, Tribeca, CPH:DOX and IDFA—and more. Selected credits include Heart of Invictus, Sentient, On Pointe, and Free Money. She shot and co-produced HBO’s Heroin: Cape Cod, USA, nominated for a Cinema Eye Honor. Carr is a DOC NYC 40 Under 40 honoree, LEF/CIFF and BAVC Mediamaker fellow, founding member of the Documentary Cinematographers Alliance, and founder of Doc House. She holds degrees from UC Berkeley and Columbia.
Josh Gleason
Josh Gleason is a director and producer whose work spans documentary film, television, and radio. His directing credits include The Disrupted (DOK.fest Munich, 2020), distributed by Passion River Films, and True Believer (Ashland Independent Film Festival, 2018). He has directed for Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s PBS series Finding Your Roots, produced for PBS’s Peabody-winning American Experience and Showtime’s Emmy-nominated The Circus. Before working in film, he reported for This American Life and NPR. He is a 2024 LEF/CIFF Fellow, DGA member, and a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.
Untitled Nomads Documentary Logline: When an American family of five trades their house for an RV, teenage daughter Leilani must come of age on the road. Over six years, her parents’ radical attempt to educate her and her brothers through lived experience reveals the joys and costs of living outside societal norms.
Roni Jo Draper
Roni Jo Draper, PhD (she/they) is an enrolled member of the Yurok tribe. Her experience as a queer, Yurok woman has influenced her writing and work as a teacher, scholar, and artist. Draper produced Scenes From the Glittering World (2021). They also produced, directed, and wrote the short documentary Fire Tender(2023). Draper’s work has been supported by National Geographic, Vision Maker Media, WMM, The Redford Center, Firelight Media, and Sundance Institute.
Marissa Lila Kongao
Marissa Lila Kongao (they/them) is a documentarian and psychedelic healer raised in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand. As a director and producer for film and television, their work centers marginalized perspectives who use storytelling to heal. Their work includes co-directing Fire Tender (2023), editing Transmormon (Artistic Vision Award, Big Sky 2014), and producing Scavenger (Big Sky 2013) short documentaries. Kongao also directed and produced a Regional Emmy-winning documentary series in Utah.
We Arrive with Fire / Ne-kah Nuue’m Mehl Mech Logline: Since time immemorial, Yurok people have placed fire on the land to maintain a balanced ecosystem. In the past century, settlers banned fire, and both the environment and people have suffered. Now, Yurok people are returning fire medicine to heal the land.
For over 40 years, Film Independent has helped filmmakers get their projects made and seen. The nonprofit organization’s core mission is to champion creative independence in visual storytelling and support a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.
Grind and glow! BURN founder Maria Chase is redefining the workout experience by merging high-intensity training with skincare-focused technology in a 45-minute session that leaves you sweaty and radiant.
Her infrared-heated classes, enhanced with LED/NIR light therapy, have become a go-to for celebs like Sofia Richie, Kate Hudson, and Adriana Lima, all seeking that post-workout glow in more ways than one.
“As biohacking, technology, and recovery awareness have come to the forefront, it became clear to me that combining them into one experience would be both efficient and effective,” Chase tells ET.
Sofia Richie/Instagram
“I think of it as biostacking, or blending a workout with longevity-focused modalities like infrared heat and medical grade light therapy to amplify results.”
That layered approach carries into the classes themselves, where each format is built around high-intensity, low-impact exercises with minimal cardio, and room for modifications.
“BURN45 is our foundational class, where we work through the entire body to build lean muscle and burn fat using heavier weights,” Chase explains.
“ISOBURN is on the other end of the spectrum. We focus on targeting tiny accessory muscles to support the larger muscles underneath,” she continues.
BURN
And for those looking for a more traditional lift, the workout pro teamed up with David Charvet and his son, Shaya, to launch BUILD, a heavier, fundamentals-driven strength style option.
“It’s rooted in weight training and feels like somewhere in between a personal training session and a group class.”
But the real glow-up at BURN happens well beyond the weights.
Maria Chase/Instagram
“Our studios have Class II medical-grade red and blue lights that penetrate through skin, connective tissue, muscle, bone, and organs for cellular regeneration. The light frequencies also target the superficial layers of the skin to help with tightening and issues like discoloration, rosacea, psoriasis, and acne,” she says.
This means you’re not only working out; you’re working on your skin too. Because of that, Chase has one unexpected rule: come bare faced.
“I always remind clients not to wear sunscreen in class because it can block the red light from penetrating into the skin. Instead, I keep it simple with a hyaluronic acid spray and light water-based moisturizer,” the trainer shares.
Add in the sauna-like atmosphere, and the results go even deeper.
Maria Chase/Instagram
“The detoxification from infrared heat is significantly higher than traditional heat. It’s gentle, but incredibly effective for flushing out toxins and reducing water retention,” the fitness pro explains. “Plus, it warms the body from the inside out, which improves flexibility and helps prevent injuries.”
Still, Chase’s self-care philosophy extends far beyond the studio doors.
“I believe in a holistic approach to wellness and that starts with the mind and soul. I don’t get much time off, so when I do, I really value rest. Unplugging is a luxury.”
Seven leading artificial intelligence companies have reached deals to deploy their technology in classified Pentagon computer networks, the Defense Department said Friday.
The announcement leaves Anthropic — one of the industry’s key players — increasingly isolated as it battles the Trump administration in court over being branded a national security risk by the Pentagon.
This week’s Take Ten guest is Camila Morrone. In this episode, we get into Morrone’s current roles, what she’s starring in next, her dream alternate-universe jobs, and her favorite Spanish slang, among many other things…
In Something Very Bad is Going to Happen on Netflix, Morrone plays Rachel, a woman whose wedding turns into the ultimate ceremony from hell. Aside from the carnage that happens on screen, Morrone has very fond memories of bonding with her co-star Adam DiMarco, who plays Rachel’s husband Nicky.
“I’m going to remember this forever,” she laughs. “We had so many inside jokes. We were so delirious shooting horror night shoots in winter in Canada, that we just had to make each other laugh all day, because it was too painful. We had an ongoing joke during our sex scenes. They would bring in this camera called the Vario Jib and we would make songs about the Vario Jib while we were laying waiting for our sex scenes.”
L-R: Karla Crome as Nell, Camila Morrone as Rachel Harkin, Gus Birney as Portia in ‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’
Courtesy of Netflix
This resulted in an unexpected wrap gift from DiMarco. “Adam actually got me a bunch of merch from the company Vario Jib. So I have a Vario Jib hat, a Vario Jib hoodie, Vario Jib T-shirt…”
In the long-awaited second season of The Night Manager on Prime Video, Morrone’s character Roxana balances allegiances with a Columbian crime kingpin (Diego Calva) and an undercover British intelligence operative (Tom Hiddleston) to help take down a cartel ring. “I’m Argentinian,” she says, “and I’ve never gotten to play a character who spoke both languages. I think that that was a really exciting thing to get to bring from my personal life and such a big part of who I am. It was fun to to bring the fiery Latina to The Night Manager… call me for Season 3, OK?”
L-R: Tom Hiddleston, Camila Morrone and Diego Calva in ‘The Night Manager’ Season 2
Prime Video
Morrone is currently shooting upcoming Netflix limited series The Age of Innocence: “It’s going to be beautiful and gut-wrenching and heartbreaking, and it’s a romance, and it’s a love story, and it’s forbidden love, and the costumes are incredible, the sets are incredible.”
She says she’s tempted to try and keep her character’s dresses from The Age of Innocence, but if she had to choose a costume to steal from any role, it would be Rachel’s ill-fated wedding dress in Something Very Bad is Going to Happen. “Courtney [Mitchell, costume designer] and I had a really fun time making a dress that we thought was very Rachel,” she says, “but also something that’s going to be classic, and hopefully live on forever in cinema. I do think that’s going to be an iconic Carrie-esque moment.”
To find out more, including Morrone’s karaoke ambitions and the TV show that makes her cry every time, click on the video above.
The first weekend of May brings some exciting new movie additions over at HBO Max.
This weekend heralds the streaming premiere of 2026’s controversial adaptation of the classic novel Wuthering Heights, starring Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie.
Watch With Us also wants to highlight two other excellent movies that were recently added to the platform, including Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line and indie breakout The Florida Project.
Keep reading to see why all three movies are worth a watch this weekend.
‘Wuthering Heights’ (2026)
Directed by Promising Young Woman and Saltburn filmmaker Emerald Fennell, Wuthering Heights reimagines Emily Brontë’s classic tale of obsessive love in line with Fennell’s teenage interpretation from decades ago. The story follows Heathcliff (Elordi) and Catherine (Robbie), who meet in childhood and form a strong, intense bond that becomes shaped by class division, emotional volatility and secret love. But when Catherine’s family is on the brink of destitution, she chooses to marry rich to save them — and forgo a life with Heathcliff, which throws both of them headlong into devastating emotional ruin.
Though Wuthering Heights divided critics upon release, it is undeniably a unique and affecting retelling of a story told many times. What makes Fennell’s adaptation compelling is how it leans into mood as much as narrative, and uses atmosphere to heighten the story’s emotional extremity. Fennell embraces the darker impulses of Brontë’s novel with striking and stark cinematography and a haunting score by Charli XCX, furthered by rich performances and a stark visual palette. The film is less of a traditional love story and more of a study in emotional extremity.
‘Walk the Line’ (2005)
Walk the Line traces the rise of country music icon Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix), from his troubled childhood in Arkansas to his emergence as one of the most influential voices in American music. Directed by James Mangold (Logan, A Complete Unknown), Walk the Line charts Cash’s early career, his struggles with addiction and his complicated relationship with fellow musician June Carter Cash (Reese Witherspoon). Ultimately, June’s presence in Cash’s life becomes central to both his personal and professional turning points. But as Cash’s fame increases, so do his internal struggles, which simultaneously pull him between self-destruction and the chance for stability.
Anchored by a truly transformative performance from Phoenix — which wouldn’t be quite what it is without a standout turn from Witherspoon — Walk the Line succeeds the most by leaning heavily into emotional honesty, rather than staying meticulously hewn to real-life facts. In addition to capturing Cash’s career trajectory, Walk the Line paints a portrait of addiction as it informs artistic identity, success and romantic relationships. While the music is an obvious highlight, it’s the raw performances that really make the movie feel powerful.
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‘The Florida Project’ (2017)
The Florida Project follows six-year-old Moonee (Brooklynn Prince) and her young, single mother, Halley (Bria Vinaite), who struggle to live day-to-day in a budget motel in Florida, just on the outskirts of Walt Disney World. Moonee’s childlike wonder allows her and her friends to treat the motel grounds as a sprawling playground where they can go on adventures, while Halley and the other guardians struggle to maintain stability, relying on increasingly desperate means to keep them afloat. With the help of the kind motel manager (Willem Dafoe), Moonnee and her friends are shielded from the harsh reality of the adult world.
While streamers like Netflix and Prime Video have continued, unfortunately, to raise their subscription prices, the increased cost is arguably worth it when their libraries are full of entertaining content. That’s especially true for HBO Max, which is debuting one hit film after another throughout April. At the top of Watch With Us’ list is […]
The Florida Project successfully balances warmth with unease, capturing moments of joy without losing sight of the instability that guides the lives of its characters. Prince delivers an astonishing breakout performance for such a young child, and Dafoe brings quiet, steadying compassion as the motel manager trying to hold his fragile community together. The film is tender without being overly mawkish; highly observational, yet simultaneously empathetic. Directed by Anora’sSean Baker, The Florida Project utilizes vibrant, slice-of-life storytelling, a gorgeous pastel color palette and exceptional authenticity to create a rich film about the struggles of ordinary people.
Sai Pallavi truly deserved a better Bollywood debut. The writing is so bland that Meera becomes one of her weakest performances. Ek Din confuses simplicity for shallowness.
Ek Din starring Sai Pallavi and Junaid Khan are running in cinemas now.
Ek DinU/A
2/5
1 May 2026|Hindi2 hrs 05 mins | Drama
Starring: Sai Pallavi, Junaid Khan and Kunal KapoorDirector: Sunil PandeyMusic: Ram Sampath
Ek Din Movie Review: Gentle, simple, heartwarming love stories are always welcome, especially in this climate where one can’t ignore Hindi cinema’s obsessive affinity towards aggressive, gory, testosterone-pumped actioners. But simplicity shouldn’t be mistaken for shallowness or a lack of substance.
Sai Pallavi and Junaid Khan’s latest outing, Ek Din, unfortunately, is that. The film needs you to suspend disbelief but that’s hardly the problem. Its weakest link is its linearity, which renders the narrative a looming layer of monotony. The makers are so intent on keeping things breezy and neat that they never quite engage with the emotional mess of the characters.
As a result, you too try very hard and eventually fail to see the complications that could’ve given the film some bit of depth. Ek Din revolves around the lives of colleagues, Dinesh Kumar Srivastav and Meera Ranganathan. But let’s go to the very beginning – the opening sequence. To highlight how unassuming and regular our male protagonist is, we get to see a filmy montage.
This montage seems less of a prelude to what’s in store. It doesn’t establish his character in anyway. Instead, it feels like an ode to Bollywood’s action films. There’s a slow-motion sequence of Ajay Devgn sliding out of his cop van in Singham, Hrithik Roshan’s stylish gait in War, Shah Rukh Khan framed against billowing wind and swirling leaves in Main Hoon Na and Tiger Shroff’s signature backflip.
After this is done, Ek Din begins. Both Dinesh and Meera work at Mycon, a software company in Noida. Dinesh’s team leader calls him a ‘gold standard gadha’ and in his own words, he’s invisible to everyone, particularly to Meera, who he’s infatuated with. The first time that Meera notices Dinesh is when her laptop malfunctions and she needs an IT guy to help her out.
Interestingly, they bond over Snow-Miku, a Japanese doll he finds at her desk, and out-of-league dreams. Meera, on the other hand, is seeing her boss, Nakul Bhasin, who’s about to divorce his wife or so he says. One day, Nakul announces that the entire team will be flying to Hokkaido in Japan – Meera’s dream destination – for the company off-site.
They decide to extend their stay by two more days until Nakul’s wife gives them a surprise visit. Meera realises that the couple is very much together. Heartbroken, she drowns herself in alcohol at a pub and gets caught in a snowstorm, leading her to suffer from hypothermic shock. She wakes up to learn that she now has TGP (transient global amnesia) because of which she loses her memory for a day.
The universe grants Dinesh his wish of having Meera as his girlfriend for that day (he had earlier prayed for it before a fortune bell). Meera believes him until she realises the truth. The rest of it is predictable. And yet the makers – director Sunil Pandey and writers Sneha Desai and Spandan Desai – keep beating around the bush till the final denouement, so much so that even a 2-hour-5-minute runtime feels like eternity.
Thanks to its second trailer that gave away everything, you’re ultimately left with nothing else to explore. No, there’s no surprise, no memorable melody and no chemistry that can make you cling on to the narrative. Don’t get us wrong… the film has its heart in the right place. And it’s refreshingly quiet but this quietude starts bothering you eventually.
Ultimately, it doesn’t even become an extended brochure of Japanese tourism. And as you journey through this tale, you’ll also end up questioning a few missing links… For instance, why would Meera, a Tamil girl, call her mother in Chennai from Hokkaido and speak to her in Hindi? And why is there almost always an Indian doctor – a Gujarati one this time with a heavy accent – treating Indian patients in a foreign land?
What’s also not established is what makes Meera so unattainable to Dinesh. Was it because he was an introvert? Was it because their personalities as people clashed? We don’t know. The makers resort to tropes so jaded and outdated that the characters of Dinesh and Meera look like vanilla and marshmallows with no real arc.
Dinesh is our regular IT guy, who leads a rather boring life. He neatly fits into the familiar nerd-with-glasses mould. These characters veer dangerously close to Mary Sue-Gary Stu territory, so scrubbed of flaws, contradictions and spark that they merely feel like caricature-ish characters rather than fully realised people. And this is the reason why actors Sai and Junaid fail to leave a mark.
An artist of the calibre of Sai truly deserved a better Bollywood debut. The writing is so bland that Meera becomes one of her weakest performances till date. At some point, Dinesh describes Meera as ‘Apple ke tarah exclusive aur Android ke tarah har jagah sync hone waali.’ But you realise that these are just words with no evidence to prove what makes her a cut above the rest.
Junaid, on the other hand, looks consistently perplexed. Yes, this is a part that required restrain but his performance feels uncertain as though he himself hadn’t quite settled on how to approach it. In a scene, while trying to imply how out-of-league is Meera for him, he says, ‘Gareeb ka bachcha jis tarah khilone ke dukaan ko dekhta hai…’ But even then, he seems to be searching for the role.
Kunal Kapoor as Nakul is also wasted as he gets related to the periphery after becoming the catalyst for the anti-climax. So, is there anything good about it, you ask? Well, yes, provided you manage to remain glued to your seat towards the end of the second half. There are some moments shared by Meera and Dinesh that are poignant and warm.
There’s a scene where he tries to awkwardly propose to her in a supermarket back in Noida. In that moment, Junaid shines. In another scene, Meera opens up to Dinesh, trying to tell him how she has fallen in love with him in a day’s time. Once heartbreak hits Meera, you get reminded what makes Sai an ace performer, who can bring a spark even to the sweet-nothing moments.
But apart from these sporadic troughs, this film feels like a wasted effort and, more importantly, a disservice to Sai, failing to tap into her range and intensity. In a nutshell, keep Ek Din for kisi aur din.
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Zayn Malik, the former One Direction star turned solo artist, canceled all U.S. dates for his upcoming tour. The hitmaker was recently hospitalized for an undisclosed illness.
“To my fans: Thank you so much for all the support and love you’ve shown me on the album release and more importantly your love, prayers, and well wishes for my health,” Malik wrote Friday in an Instagram story. “I’ve felt it, and it’s meant the world. I’ve been at home recovering and I’m doing well and will be better and stronger than before.
“I’ve had to take another look at my schedule for the months ahead and have to reduce the number of shows on the KONNAKOL Tour,” he continued. “I want to make sure I still get out and see as many of you as I possibly can. I’m really looking forward to playing these shows for you, and I hope to see the rest of you around the world very soon. Big Love, Z”
While the “Side Effects” singer still has forthcoming shows in the United Kingdom and Mexico later this month, he nixed the U.S. leg of the tour, which was slated to kick off this July in Philadelphia. Other major stops included Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, Phoenix, San Diego, Inglewood, Anaheim, San Francisco and Seattle, with the tour concluding in Miami on Nov. 20.
The announcement comes weeks after Malik, 33, revealed he was hospitalized. The singer didn’t disclose what condition he was suffering from, but on April 17 — the day his latest album “Konnakol” dropped — he shared a since-expired Instagram story that included selfies of the singer in a hospital bed hooked up to an IV.
“To my fans – Thank you to all of you for your love & support now & always – been a long week and am still unexpectedly recovering,” he wrote alongside the photo. “Heartbroken that I can’t see you all this week, I wouldn’t be in the place I am today without you guys and am so thankful for your understanding.”
The “Prayers” singer also thanked “all the incredible hospital staff of [doctors], nurses, cardiologist, management, admin and everyone who had helped along the way and continue to”.
Earlier this year, Malik performed his first ever seven-night residency in Las Vegas at Dolby Live at Park MGM.
Feedly AI Feeds are already powerful, but what if you could fine-tune them even further? Introducing Natural Language Filters—a new way to refine your feeds with precise, natural language queries on top of our AI Models.
With Natural Language Filters, you can:
Zero in on niche security topics
Collect content about security-related geopolitical topics
Extend your research deep into threat actor procedures
Filter out articles that add noise or waste time because they lack technical details or tactical intelligence
Cut through the noise like never before—Feedly’s AI Feeds are now sharper, smarter, and more tailored to your research needs.
Feedly’s AI Feeds use over 30,000+ AI Models to help teams collect intelligence that is up to seven times more relevant than keyword searches. We are introducing Natural Language Filters to refine your AI Feed even more precisely to the topics and intelligence you seek.
Zero in on niche security topics
Finding content on niche security topics often means scanning articles on related topics, only to come up empty. These rabbit hole searches waste time. Feedly’s Natural Language Filter enables you to refine a related AI Feed to retain only information related to your niche topic.
Example 1: You want to find novel uses of a TTP by threat actors targeting the finance industry. Start by setting up an AI Feed of Threat Actors targeting the Finance industry to collect TTPs. Then, add a Natural Language Filter to keep only articles about novel uses of a particular TTP.
Example 2: You are interested in cyber attacks that target AWS, but are also seeing articles about attacks where threat actors use AWS in their operations. Start by creating an AI Feed with AWS and cyberattacks. Then add a Natural Language Filter to only retain articles about “cyber attacks targeting AWS”.
Collect content about security-related geopolitical topics
Geopolitical events generate overwhelming coverage volumes. To navigate this noise and extract insights relevant to your organization, apply Natural Language Filters to precisely identify the intersection between geopolitical developments and specific security concerns.
Example 3: You’ve noticed escalating trade wars between Canada and the USA. You want to see if there are any related security issues or policy changes that have been implemented as a result in 2025.
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Research threat actor procedures
Depending on your threat landscape, adversaries, and controls, some procedures will be more relevant to understand than others. While MITRE provides information about Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs), you might want to research aspects of specific procedures more deeply.
Example 5: Security leadership is concerned about API vulnerabilities.
Example 6: Your organization is concerned about spearphishing. In particular, they want to understand any cyberattacks where the adversaries impersonated fintech companies.
Filter out articles that add noise
Natural Language Filters can also exclude content irrelevant to your research. You can set exclusions for specific topics, content types, or tonal characteristics that don’t serve your analytical needs.
Example 7: Suppose you are looking for critical vulnerabilities with exploits, but you want to avoid summary information. You can use the NLP filter to exclude vulnerability rollups or summaries that don’t go into depth.
Example 8: Imagine you’re looking for information about hackers targeting healthcare organizations. You want meaningful threats that could affect your organization, not every minor incident with little real-world impact.
Final thoughts
Natural Language Filters complement rather than replace AI Models, helping to refine your AI Feeds. While AI Models typically deliver superior results, Natural Language Filters provide a precise final adjustment to sharpen your focus, particularly when an AI Model returns broader results than your specific intelligence requirements demand.
Fine-tune your Feedly AI Feeds with Natural Language Filters
Pair AI Models with Natural Language Filters to zero in on the precise intelligence you need, even for the most niche topics.
– English Audio Description
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