Standard Blog Whole Post - Time Warner Entertainment

The Hollywood Critics Association has announced today

Comics

Call of Duty’s latest anti-cheat update makes cheaters hallucinate imaginary opponents

The latest update from Call of Duty’s anti-cheating team has revealed a new method in which cheaters hallucinate imaginary opponents.

As explained on the Call of Duty blog, the game’s Team Ricochet department, which focuses on identifying and eliminating cheating in the game, has added what it calls a new ‘Mitigation’.

Migitations are designed to mess with a cheater’s game and keep them occupied while other players enjoy the game without disruption.

By applying a Mitigation to a cheater instead of banning them outright, Team Ricochet can analyse them and gain data on the cheating software they use, which in turn lets the team better detect and ban players using similar software in the future.

The newest Mitigation, which is simply called ‘hallucination’, places decoy characters in the game which only cheaters can see.

According to Team Ricochet, these decoys “are undetectable by legitimate players, and they cannot impact a legitimate player’s aim, progression, end of match stats or overall gameplay experience, but serve to disorient cheaters in a variety of ways”.

They look, move and act like a real player, and trigger the same information a real player would trigger in cheating software, making them appear legitimate.

The game will place these hallucinations near a suspicious player, and if the player interacts with them in any way they will “self-identify as a cheater”.

Hallucinations will still appear like a normal player in cheat software to avoid suspicion

According to Team Ricochet, the halliucination Mitigation can either be deployed to known cheaters to keep them distracted while more analysis takes place, or deployed to suspicious players to see if they interact with the Mitigation and essentially ‘out’ themselves as cheaters.

The team has also removed a different Mitigation, which it calls ‘quicksand’. This slowed or froze cheaters in the game, leaving them wide open for attack, and would also mess with a player’s controls by reassigning mapped keys or changing analogue stick controls from default to inverted.

The quicksand Mitigation has been removed because, according to Team Ricochet, it infringed too much on a normal player’s experience and was considered distracting.

“Mitigations are designed to be a roadblock for cheaters so our community can participate in a protected and interruption-free gameplay experience,” the team said.

“While Quicksand was a fun mitigation to deploy against bad actors, it could also be very visually jarring to anyone in the lobby.”

The latest update from Call of Duty’s

Entertaintment, Festivals, Film

Filmmakers Georden West and Russell Sheaffer Discuss Their Inspirations for Tribeca’s ‘Playland’ and Its Creation Using Adobe Creative Cloud

Enigmatic and subversive, Playland combines archival imagery, historical audio clips, and stylized vignettes to tell the story of what was Boston’s longest-surviving LGBTQIA+ venue and bring performers and partygoers from the 20^th century out to play for one last night.

This post was written by Kylee Peña and originally appeared on Adobe blog on Jun. 9, 2023.

To produce “Playland”, Director and Co-Editor Georden West and Producer and Co-Editor Russell Sheaffer relied on Adobe Creative Cloud apps including Premiere Pro, Media Encoder, Photoshop, and InDesign to push the creative process to the limit.

Described by Variety as a “haunting and haunted collage of queer history,” the film leaps across decades, as the cast enact a journey starting in the 1940s, through the heydays of the 1960s and ’70s, to decline and closure in the 1990s. Playland echoes the filmmakers’ love for fashion, queer aesthetics, and the films of Derek Jarman, Sally Potter, and Barbara Hammer. In it, nothing stands still, and everything feels fragile and transient.

Before the film’s Tribeca Festival debut, I spoke with them about the influences and experiences that shaped Playland, and the role Adobe tools played.

Can you tell us about your experience as a filmmaker and how you got started in the industry?

West: After dropping out of an MPA program, I applied to film school. I ended up at Emerson College. While I was there, a classmate introduced me to the work of Alexander McQueen. I was enraptured by the fashion and his collaborations with photographer Nick Knight. So, while I was still pursuing my MFA in Boston, I interned at Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio in London which specializes in boundary-pushing fashion media. Nick and his team taught me as a filmmaker how it was better to get one sublime shot accomplished through meticulous on-set attention to detail rather than augmented by post-production magic.

At the time, SHOWstudio was focusing on projects around queer aesthetics. I was assigned to document Gareth Pugh’s window project at Selfridges where he invited emerging fashion designers to make something in the storefront. Edwin Mohney (Costume Designer on Playland) was the artist there that day. Using red duct tape, they created a piece that nestled in the liminal space between a tableau vivant, sculpture, and garment.

After I returned from London, I shot my graduate short, “Patron Saint”, featuring the designs of Jamall Osterholm. It went on to premiere at Outfest and won gold at the Student Academy Awards. I knew I wanted my first feature film to be focused on queer history. In 2019, I started doing research at a local archive, The History Project, in Boston. This archive, one of the largest independent LGBTQIA+ archives in the nation, was around the corner from the gay bar where I was working as a server. What started out as a research project blossomed into a script speculating on the archival silence that defines so many queer historical records — erased, redacted, forgotten. In 2020, once I felt like it was ready to share, the first person I called was Edwin.

Sheaffer: I’ve always found myself situated somewhere between filmmaking and film theory and my journey as an artist and thinker is bound up in the space between the two. I started college in UC Irvine’s Film & Media Studies program and got my first job in the industry right after graduation as an intern-turned-assistant editor on Jennifer Arnold’s “A Small Act” (which premiered at Sundance in 2010). Jen was so generous and gracious with me. We worked together for years after “A Small Act”, first on “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie ” (where I was a field producer) and then on ESPN’s “The Diplomat” (where I was an associate producer). I undoubtedly owe my grasp of three act structure to her mentorship.

I then went to grad school, earning an MA from NYU’s Cinema Studies department and a Ph.D. in Communication & Culture from Indiana University. My time in grad school was a revelation. The faculty at both institutions allowed me to fuse my interest in film scholarship with moving image making. I made some of my first films while at NYU, two of which ended up at galleries and events run by the MoMA (one of which was reviewed by Roberta Smith in the New York Times). While at IU, a short direct-animated film of mine premiered at Tribeca.

I’m now based in San Diego and find myself gravitating towards filmmakers who, like me, are exploring the intersections of embodiment, sexuality, and cinematic language. It’s a real joy to get to imagine how and why a film is going to speak in a certain way with directors who are so open to reimagining how a scene, an act, or a film might move through time.

Credit: ‘Playland’/Georden West, Russell Sheaffer

How and where did you first learn to edit?

West: I started to edit because I wanted to make films. There was never a world for me in which the edit was not part of this. I have never not edited my own work.

I didn’t have a camera, so I would shoot videos with my little brothers in our neighborhood on my cell phone or using the Photo Booth application on my laptop. Then I would spend weeks editing it in iMovie. Weeks.

In college, maybe this will age me (but I swear our tech was just out-of-date), I first shot on miniDVs. The small school I went to for undergrad had these little JVC cameras that recorded to tape. Then (after you transferred it to digital using a deck), we would edit in Premiere. We got a brief 101 session on the software and then were left to our own devices.

Sheaffer: I took a filmmaking class in high school decades ago. In that class, we had access to a handful of Canon miniDV cameras and iMacs with Final Cut Pro. Every time I’d have a question about how to do something, my teacher would tell me to go online and figure it out — so I did. I treated the bulk of the class time like an experiment in editing.

When the Final Cut interface was redesigned (we were in the middle of the edit on “Glee: The 3D Concert Movie” at the time), I moved to Adobe Premiere and haven’t looked back. Now, I revel in knowledge about codecs and am constantly trying to absorb new workflows. I still push the program until it bends, accommodating unconventional approaches and needs.

How do you begin a project/set up your workspace?

West: The studio is always a place of execution. I will test concepts there, but it isn’t a place I tend to relax in. It is a bit like artwork purgatory. I think these spaces are too transitory for me to develop a close social and spatial relationship.

During post, if I have to go to a professional space, I tend to consistently use the same edit bay. It helps me start to transform the space into something closer to the personal. The software at this point feels pretty comforting.

I was lucky to cut “Playland” while in residence at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. I struggled at first to edit in the darkroom where the computer was, but during a Covid outbreak, I brought the hardware into my apartment. That really was a turning point for the process.

Sheaffer: Because so many projects I work on feel a bit like collage, my first step is to conform all media to a single format. Once I do that, I like to make low-res proxy files that I can take on a travel drive with me. I’m working off of a 16-inch MacBook Pro (64GB of memory and an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M 8GB graphics card). While I love working from my office, I want to be able to wander with my system.

I find that my editorial headspace requires shifting physical locations. I want to take my edit station to the park, to the dinner table, to the woods, and to the middle of the High Desert. Knowing that about myself, having high-speed travel drives with media that can be cleaned up and onlined later is a vital part of the setup process.

Credit: ‘Playland/Georden West, Russell Sheaffer

Tell us about a favorite scene or moment from this project and why it stands out to you.

West: I don’t think I have a favorite moment, but I am most proud of the timing in the film. We had beautiful raw material to work with and getting to massage the shots (montage and sometimes even in-shot) to get the rhythm of the film to a place that felt “right” is something I can appreciate when I rewatch “Playland”. There are just some cuts (Tex clicking a remote control, which throws us into the darkness of the club with DJ Hella) that still tickle me.

Sheaffer: The moment that stands out to me is when we first see Hella enter the space of the Playland Café. In the shot, Hella is entering across time, carrying a crate of records. Georden had assembled a temp version of the shot using a roster of mattes and keyframes so that Hella fades into the frame as she walks through the doorway and around two other characters who are rooted in their respective times. I spent days working back through the timing on that opacity shift, mapping the curves of each character’s garment. The result is a shot that communicates so much about these characters and their relationship to the space without necessitating a cut.

What were some specific post-production challenges you faced that were unique to your project? How did you go about solving them?

West: Oof. It was a pandemic. I had great support from independent film production company, Artless Media, who were as determined as I was to get “Playland” made.

I understood that time was not going to be on our side for the actual production. I spent pre-production crafting a shared vision with Kristen Dempsey (Production Designer), Edwin Mohney (Costume Designer), Jo Jo Lam (Cinematographer), and Aaron Michael Smith (Composer). We worked hard to have a really solid understanding of what we wanted the film to look, feel, and sound like. I have no doubt being in conversation with these extraordinary artists ahead of the shoot really elevated “Playland”.

Then we shot in only eight days. I think this speaks to the incredible talent and determination of the crew, particularly to the leadership of these department heads.

Sheaffer: We had the initial intention of making “Playland” a stitched-together, single-shot piece. But, shooting during the pandemic with only eight shoot days, it became clear quickly that it would be impossible to make that style manifest. A lot of the challenge for Georden and me was to re-discover the timing and syntax of the film in the edit. Georden and I passed cuts back and forth over the course of eight months, slowly developing the rich and unique grammar that is so palpable in the film now.

What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them? Why were they the best choice for this project?

West: I used Premiere, Media Encoder, Photoshop, and InDesign. Adobe’s offerings encompass all the tools I could possibly need to make “Playland”. Adobe files talk to one another, so the workflow is smooth from one tool to the next. We also needed software where we could set concepts for sound design. The aural landscape is a vital part of the edit. Just as visual elements can demand a specific sonic element, this relationship works the other way around. Premiere is perfect for doing a little bit of everything!

Sheaffer: Adobe Creative Cloud is what I’ve been using for years now, and I feel very comfortable experimenting and pushing it to its limit. The fact that the apps all communicate with one another was also vital. I could run encodes in Media Encoder while continuing to edit in Premiere, pulling in graphics and visuals that Georden had made in Photoshop and InDesign. The kind of flexibility that is inherent to Premiere was also key — we relied heavily on Premiere’s keyframe, matte, and time remapping tools.

Adobe Premiere Pro workspaceCredit: Georden West, Russell Sheaffer

If you could share one tip about Premiere Pro, what would it be?

West: Play. I have discovered so much about what a piece of footage can do by investing time in playing. I think we, as a society, demand artists be experts, but I would rather be a risk-taking amateur! Premiere really gives an editor the ability to try new things and you can push the software far. I sneakily use a lot of the effects and keyframing tools.

For me, as a creative who directs and edits, your on-set experience must be completely divorced from the edit. Every shot deserves the scrutiny of an editor without a director’s preciousness. If there is something you don’t like about a shot, but you feel like you must use it, taking the time to really see what is possible in Premiere before throwing it away OR using it as is, is always an option. I am not of the “fix it in post” approach: I want to do my best possible work on set and then have material that just needs tweaks in the edit, so I have time to really perfect the material.

Sheaffer: In the words of some of my five-year-old’s favorite books: “Experiment! Invent!” Premiere’s interface is such a valuable tool because you can bend it to what you need. Don’t feel like you have to follow all of the (formal or technical) rules in your offline edit. There are hundreds of ways to achieve a similar look or effect, and Premiere is the perfect place to learn, grow, and play until you find what you need. With that said, though, I’ve also experienced first-hand that you need to leave yourself ample time for clean-up when you start to online your edit.

Who is your creative inspiration and why?

West: I am inspired by all queer folx creating a world more survivable for themselves. Also, the “Playland” team. I learn so much from the artists I work with and am grateful to call the visionaries that gave their time and talent to this film some of my greatest influences. Influence is very local.

Sheaffer: I’m a devotee of Barbara Hammer, Derek Jarman, and Sally Potter. All three artists are playful in their form while simultaneously taking the time to understand the why of each film’s style. And they have all made beautiful and unique cinematic visions as a result.

What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to face in your career and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for aspiring filmmakers or content creators?

West: I don’t really like answering the first question because it links the merit or value of a practice to a suffering that is commodifiable and palatable. No artist should have to plate their vulnerability or hardship to a company for career advancement.

As for the second: if you’ve never seen yourself reflected in the specific artform you’re practicing, you know your work is inherently vital and valuable. That is reason enough to create whatever you have decided to make.

Sheaffer: I think the most important thing for any artist is to continually surprise themselves with what they don’t know. While I love conventional narrative films — and editing in familiar modes is satisfying in its own way — I also want to challenge myself to learn through my artmaking. When I teach, I try to encourage my students to reach beyond their own technical limitations while grounding themselves in what they know. Don’t feel like you’re limited by your own current know-how but do know that your own unique subject position is the most valuable tool that you have.

Share a photo of where you work. What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?

West: I edited the film while a resident at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass. There was a Covid outbreak, and I ended up catching it. To meet my deadlines, I moved my workspace into the studio apartment so I could keep working without getting anyone else sick. Even after I recovered, I had gotten so used to editing in the comfort of my own personal space (I am a big believer in artistic utility) that I didn’t move back to the darkroom I was previously editing in.

I loved the white walls and the paneled Cape Cod style of the space. There were large windows that opened up into a beautiful greenspace behind the apartment. Fortunately, AND unfortunately, it meant light was bouncing around every which way. I would regularly go under a blanket to see what I was doing.

Sheaffer: My favorite thing about my workspace is that it can be mobile. I love sitting down at a proper edit bay, but I also know how important changes in physical space are for my own creative manifestation. In this photo, I was on a writing and editing retreat in the middle of Twentynine Palms, CA — isolated and able to freshly visualize with the help of the land, sun, and sky!

Enigmatic and subversive, Playland combines archival imagery,

Film

‘Indiana Jones’: Why Harrison Ford Pitched ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Funny Scene to Replace Sword Fight

‘Indiana Jones’: Why Harrison Ford Pitched ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’s Funny Scene to Replace Sword Fight | Entertainment Tonight

‘Sweet Magnolias’ Season 3 Trailer Teases ‘New Relationships and New Challenges’

‘Sweet Magnolias’ Season 3 Trailer Teases ‘New Relationships and New Challenges’ | Entertainment Tonight

What to Watch

‘Silo’ Season 1 Finale Ending Explained — Rebecca Ferguson Episode 10 – TVLine

‘Silo’ Season 1 Finale Ending Explained —

Awards

Indiana Jones and Dial of Destiny Earns $7.2M in Box Office Previews – The Hollywood Reporter

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny dug up a solid $7.2 million in previews at the North American box office.

Disney and Lucasfilm’s long-awaited next installment in the action-adventure franchise is pacing to open to $65 million or more over the June 30-July 2 weekend in advance of the July Fourth holiday. The movie’s preview grosses were on par with Fast X ($7.5 million) and ahead of Mission: Impossible — Fallout ($6 million).

The fifth and final chapter in the Indiana Jones series once again returns Harrison Ford as the swashbuckling archeologist. The 80-year-old actor stars opposite Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore and Mads Mikkelsen in the James Mangold-directed film. (Steven Spielberg directed each of the previous four Indy films.)

The movie is a sequel to 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which posted a three-day debut of $100 million 15 years ago.

Keeping the film series’ ongoing Nazi theme alive, Dial of Destiny‘s storyline revolves around an ancient device being chased by Jones and a villain played by Mikkelsen.

Indiana Jones 5 is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel, with Spielberg and George Lucas serving as executive producers. John Williams, who has scored every Indiana Jones film since the original Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, once again composed the score.

Also opening over the pre-July Fourth weekend is DreamWorks Animation’s Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, which earned $725,000 in previews. The family film is expected to fly under the radar with a domestic opening in the single digits.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Entertaintment, TV

Sweet Magnolias on Netflix Is Coming Back for Season 3: Everything We Know

Sweet Magnolias is officially coming back for more margarita nights, drama, and romance on…drumroll, please: Thursday, July 20, 2023. We’re now less than a month away from season three, which means we finally have an official trailer, and 15 new photos.

It’s been a long wait for fans (a little over a year, to be exact), who have been wanting answers to that season-two cliff-hanger ever since the beloved series starring JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Brooke Elliott, and Heather Headley was renewed back on May 4, 2022. The series—based on the popular novels by New York Times best-selling author Sherryl Woods—first premiered in May 2020 and quickly became the surprise hit of the summer. Season two premiered on February 4, 2022, and ended with a ton of shockers and surprises for the lives of everyone in Serenity. Now we’ll know whether Helen will accept Ryan’s proposal (um, no, she’d better not), what will happen to Cal, and just who is out to get Dana Sue.

Netflix has also revealed that the third season will consist of 10 one-hour episodes, and all will drop at once. That’s the same amount as seasons one and two. Sheryl J. Anderson will return as showrunner and executive producer, along with Dan Paulson as executive producer.

Are you ready for the trailer? There’s so much that’s going to go down in these episodes, so take a look and then we’ll discuss:

Okay, so for one, it looks like we’re getting a wedding, or some fancy event of sorts. My money’s on Dana Sue and Ronnie renewing their vows, but of course, TBD. (Also, gotta love this mystery woman crashing a party and looking to cause trouble for the Sullivans.) Meanwhile, we have Cal saying he never wants to hurt anyone (literally and figuratively), but somehow he always does. It’s clear Maddie has a lot on her mind about whether she can make her relationship with the former baseball player work. Also having hiccups are Noreen and Bill, who are balancing a toddler, and a very unsteady relationship. Then there’s Tyler, who like any normal teen, wants to date around, even though one person likely has his heart (Annie). And then there’s the storyline that completely captivated me last season: Helen’s desire to be a mother, and the man she wants to move forward with in her life. Ryan finally proposed, but in my mind it’s too little too late, and Erik is the right guy to explore a relationship with. But will she? (As Dana Sue says, “it’s hard having two good men in your life.”) God, I can’t wait for this season.

Sweet Magnolias is officially coming back for

Docs

Millie Lies Low Featured, Reviews Film Threat

There’s a good reason to watch foreign films. They aren’t American, meaning they contain plots and ideas that if in the hands of a big studio, would be ruined. In the case of director Michelle Savill’s Millie Lies Low, Hollywood would have ruined this little gem of a tale.

Millie (Ana Scotney) is an architecture student from Wellington, New Zealand. Her exceptional work has landed her an internship at a prestigious architectural firm in New York City. Our story opens with Millie on a plane to New York. Just as the plane door closes, Millie experiences a panic attack and insists on getting off at that moment. When Millie tries to book another flight, the airline refuses to cut her any deals since she is at fault. Unfortunately, the cost of a ticket is way out of her budget.

It would be easy to go home and admit defeat. Yet, as Millie goes over the video of her going away party, all the financial arrangements to move to New York, and ending things with her partner, she can’t face anyone. Rather than come clean, Millie hops on social media and pretends to be in New York while she works things out. She has no money, so she tries to get a loan from the bank, but that’ll take a few days. She starts taking pictures at locations in Wellington that look like the Big Apple. Millie sleeps on the street because she can’t go home to any of her local haunts, and she has to duck and hide to not be seen by one of her friends. Of course, when she Facetimes her friends, she has no idea what time zone she’s in.

“…Millie hops on social media and pretends to be in New York…”

Now, back to my original point. If Millie Lies Low was made by Hollywood, it would be a groan-inducing screwball comedy. Instead, this New Zealand production takes this outlandish situation and turns it into a grounded drama. Yes, there are humorous elements, such as Millie going out of her way not to be seen by friends and family and the ways she keeps up the ruse that she’s actually in New York. Eventually, she finds herself in a futile attempt to juggle her lies.

Within this comedic plot comes a poignant performance from Ana Scotney. Scotney focuses her character on the why of her actions. What would make this person jump through so many hoops out of fear of disappointing everyone in her life? This story of mental health centers on her fear and guilt as we discover a few of Millie’s truths behind the initial panic attack and her perception of herself.

Again, this is why I love foreign films. New Zealand is not that different from the United States with our shared Western sensibilities. But Millie Lies Low is not caught in the Hollywood way of doing things. The fact that the film stars an unknown (to America) helps make Scotney’s portrayal grounded and honest, especially when it comes to the ending. This little drama serves as the perfect alternative to the big studio dreck, plus no subtitles! Simple and sweet!

Millie Lies Low can be screened through the Film Movement website.

There’s a good reason to watch foreign

The 'towel policeman' can be seen shoving all the holidaymakers' belongings into plastic bags

Global

Moment ‘sunbed police’ REMOVE towels from loungers to stop holidaymakers reserving them

This is the satisfying moment Mallorcan ‘sunbed police’ took revenge on hotel guests who had reserved loungers.

A staff member appears fed up as he swiftly removes towels and inflatables used to hog beds by the pool at the Viva resort on the Spanish island.

Dubbed the ‘towel police’ by TikToker John McGowan, the worker can be seen shoving holidaymakers’ belongings into plastic bags.

He even walks around the pool area with a stopwatch and clipboard to time how long each sunbed has been reserved for, Mr McGowan explained.

If the hogger has not returned within 30 minutes, their items are removed from the beds.

The Mallorca hotel’s ‘sunbed police’ are captured getting revenge on guests who have reserved loungers

The ‘towel policeman’ can be seen shoving all the holidaymakers’ belongings into plastic bags

It is generally accepted in Spanish resorts that a towel left on a sunbed is claimed by its owner for the entire day. The origin of this rule is not known, though it is thought to be a German invention.

One commenter quipped: ‘Well done to this resort. Hope others take note. It might make people’s hols less stressful if the towel dash doesn’t happen anymore.’

Sunbed wars have long been a common start to the mornings of British holidaymakers’ trips abroad.

Although not all hotels allow this rule, when in place it can create heated competition between holidaymakers desperate to enjoy themselves more than their neighbours.

Hilarious footage of guests at the four-star Spring Hotel Bitacora, Playa de las Américas in Tenerife, shows crowds of desperate tourists waiting next to their resort’s swimming pools and descending en masse to grab the best spots at the earliest possible time.

Brits armed with swimming togs and sun cream raced past rival holidaymakers with a grim determination to secure their place in the sun for a day.

Some were reported to queue for 90 minutes first thing in the morning – waiting for some unknown signal before stampeding past opposing tourists towards the sun loungers.

Meanwhile at the Camp de Mar in Majorca a holidaymaker was shocked to see next-level towel reservation after sunbed hogs puts their towels down on the floor at the entrance to the pool area.

Photos show beach bags and towels placed in an orderly queue leading to the closed-off pool area so hotel guests can secure their sun bed the moment that it opens.

Holidaymaker Geoff said: ‘In an effort to control the sunbed madness, the door from the hotel to the pool area was kept locked until 8am.

No compromise: Holidaymakers made the dash to claim the best sunbeds ahead of their opponents

‘So people were lining their towels up on the floor in a queue order by the door before it opened. I must add this wasn’t youngsters, but mostly elderly and middle-aged people,’ he told the Mirror.

Discussing the behaviour of the other guests at a four-star hotel in Camp de Mar, he said: ‘The towel line actually went back much further (than the picture shows) and the owners were seated on the sofas just out of sight, ready to fly outside when the door was unlocked.

‘I don’t know what time they started, but we were up at 6.30am one morning to grab breakfast before an excursion, and there was already an established towel queue forming at the door. Crazy behaviour!’

Meanwhile, a holiday hero spoke out earlier this year against some ‘entitled’ tourists who reserved sun loungers for nine hours while he and his wife were on holiday in Bali.

Newlyweds Thom Aspland and Lisa were honeymooning at Bali’s Grand Barong Resort where they were met by unfurled towels on sun loungers at 6.30am.

After returning at 1pm and seeing the chairs untouched, the couple waited for a further hour of no movement, before finally ditching the reserving towels and taking the spot themselves.

Hilarious footage captured the moment a holidaymaker (in black T-shirt) bagged five sun loungers by sprinting through the sun beds before throwing his towels on the best pool-side spots

They were met at 3.30pm by the shocked pair of ‘entitled’ tourists ‘iPads and books in hand’.

The couple were even sure to teach their competitors a lesson by ushering other tourists in their place as they left.

Speaking to Yahoo News, Thom said: ‘We definitely thought they were entitled, but were surprised they didn’t confront us.’

He assumed that the lack of confrontation was down to the fact that ‘they knew what they had done’.

Thom also noted the hilarious extent of the couple’s pettiness in getting on the beds in the first place.

‘We didn’t even want the beds,’ he said, but the compulsion to prove a point was too strong.

‘Many places here have an hour rule, so we just made sure we gave them an hour once we got in the pool,’ he added.

He revealed that he and Lisa had been looking on from the bar for two hours before making their move.

He also gave comical detail about the approach of the pair who thought they would get away with the nine-hour reservation, saying that ‘they quickly walked towards the chairs, then stopped and looked at each other to pause’.

‘They then frantically looked for their two personal towels’ before departing to their hotel room never to be seen again,’ he said.

The happy couple made absolutely certain that they proved their point when they left by passing the beds on to a mother and daughter after telling them the whole story.

Thom shared the ‘petty’ revenge story online with droves of followers agreeing that leaving towels on seats all day was ‘sun hogging’ and disrespectful.

‘Am I the only one hoping there’s a day two to this situation,’ one person said.

Another wrote: ‘Proof that not all heroes wear a cape.

‘Would shout you both a Bintang if I were there.’

‘I would’ve done the same except I wouldn’t have waited – if they weren’t there using them its free for all,’ a third added.

Some also commended the couple for waiting the hour that they did.

Thom then posted an update of the empty poolside chairs on the following morning as a sign of victory.

‘Free all morning,’ he declared.

In August, the hilarious moment a holidaymaker bagged five sun loungers by sprinting towards them before throwing his towels on the best pool-side spots was posted on TikTok by a guest who filmed the chaotic scene from her balcony at the Paradise Park Hotel in Los Cristianos, Tenerife.

The video shows a large pool surrounded by a decked terrace, moments before several people emerge and start running towards the sunbeds.

One man dressed in yellow can be seen sprinting towards the loungers with several towels on his arm. He skipped past rows of other chairs until he reached the ones in the prime pool-side spot.

While the other guests made their way towards the loungers, he took a shortcut to arrive there first and threw his towels down to claim the seats at an impressive speed.

This wasn’t the first time the man was on the hunt, as another video showed him in a black T-shirt securing the best spot.

Jess Clarke, who filmed the crowd, captioned her video: ‘Day Three Sunbed Wars’.

It quickly gained more than 11,000 likes and hundreds of comments were left by viewers saying, ‘Love it, so funny’ or remarking, ‘I’ve never seen sunbed wars that bad’.

Another commented: ‘Guy in yellow put in a proper shift.’

A fourth said: ‘9am sunbed wars paradise park Tenerife what a sight.’

One user recognised the man from Ms Clarke’s previous video titled ‘Day 1’.

The hotel is known for sunbed reservation races and similar scenes were captured on camera last year.

Thom Aspland’s ‘victory’ post on Facebook saw him pictured with his wife Lisa. ‘Free all morning,’ he declared, with reference to the empty poolside chairs

A viral TikTok video from July shows tourists at the Tenerife hotel making a shameless dash for the best poolside spot.

Footage shows a crowd of holidaymakers show up at a pool at Paradise Park just as it opens.

They then drop their towels on the hotspot’s best loungers – with some even glancing around guiltily as they do it.

TikTok user Sarah, whose clip has already garnered more than five million views in just one day, simply captioned it: ‘The Sunbed Race’.

Paradise Park spokesman Rafael Ruiz-Benitez de Lugo told MailOnline last year: ‘We were amused to see it – considering that our hotel has five swimming pools and areas with space and sunbeds for everyone.

‘Although we see quite a bit of talent among our guests for obstacle races.’

Tourists in Palma de Mallorca raced to reserve a sun lounger at 9am as they sprinted alongside the pool

Some appeared to be sprinting at full speed as they overtook others in the mad rush for the limited seats

As soon as 9am struck, the competing holidaymakers started to run beside the pool adjacent to the hotel

Footage shared on TikTok shows the horde decked out in their hats and towels ready for a day of basking in the Majorcan heat

Weeks before, in June last year, sunbed-blockers had their towels taken away by hotel staff at another resort in Tenerife.

Holidaymaker Amanda Proctor filmed the moment the workers picked up dozens of towels that guests had laid out on empty sun loungers in a bid to reserve the best seats next to the pool at the five star Gran Costa Adeje Hotel in southern Tenerife.

Ms Proctor said that the staff at the hotel, which features four pools, took the guests’ bags and towels and left a note on the chairs telling them where to collect their belongings.

The holidaymaker said there was a sign at the hotel saying guests were not allowed to reserve sunbeds before 10am.

A spokesman at the hotel told MailOnline: ‘At GF Gran Costa Adeje, we defend the right of all our guests to enjoy our pools and we ask everyone to respect our policy.

‘All guests will have their space in our solarium. In this situation, our colleague, like the entire GF Gran Costa Adeje team, is a hero without a cape. We are very happy with the reaction to the video and from our customers.’

Click to Subscribe to Get Our Free HollywoodLife Daily Newsletter to get the hottest celeb news.

This is the satisfying moment Mallorcan 'sunbed

Trending

Alan Arkin Dead At 89 – Hollywood Life

Tina Turner - World Music Awards 1993
Various - 1993 — Image Credit: HA/THA/Shutterstock

For Editorial Use Only
Mandatory Credit: Photo by HA/THA/Shutterstock (13970803hy)
Studio publicity film still from "Catch-22" Alan Arkin 1970 Paramount
Studio Film and Publicity Stills — Image Credit: HA/THA/Shutterstock

Alan Arkin, 89, has died, his three sons confirmed on June 30. Adam Arkin, Matthew Arkin and Anthony Arkin released a joint statement to PEOPLE to announce the news. The statement remembered their late father’s legacy and expressed how much they will miss him after his passing.

“Our father was a uniquely talented force of nature, both as an artist and a man,” the statement read. “A loving husband, father, grand and great grandfather, he was adored and will be deeply missed.” No further information about his death has been confirmed at this time.

One of Alan’s most well-known roles was as the grandfather in 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, despite only having 14 minutes of screen time. He has been nominated for four Oscars throughout this career, including another Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance in 2012’s Argo. Alan also won a Tony Award in 1963 for Best Featured Actor in a Play. He earned the honor for his role in Enter Laughing.

alan arkin suzanne newlander — Alan Arkin gets his Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2019. (NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

Alan began his career in the music industry, but eventually realized his passion for acting and began a career in theater. He became an established actor in the 1970s and was working in the years leading up to his death. His most recent television role was in Netflix’s The Kominsky Method, which he actually earned two Emmy nominations for. In 2022, he voiced a character in Minions: Rise of Gru, and in 2020, he starred in the film Spenser Confidential. In his entire career, he appeared in more than 100 movies and television shows.

Throughout his 89 years, Alan was married three times. He had two sons, Adam and Matthew, with his first first wife, Jeremy Yaffe. After their divorce in 1961, he married Barbara Dana in 1964. They were together for 30 years and had a son, Anthony, together. Alan married his third wife, Suzanne Newlander, in 1996, who he was still with at the time of his death.

View gallery Image Credit: HA/THA/Shutterstock Alan Arkin, 89, has

Tech

Jonathan Majors Accused of Toxic, Abusive Behavior by Former Yale Classmates, Colleagues (Report)

Jonathan Majors is accused of a pattern of toxic, intimidating and occasionally physically abusive behavior while a student at Yale by several former friends and classmates who spoke anonymously to Rolling Stone.

Rolling Stone said in its Wednesday report that it interviewed more than 40 people who knew Majors during his time as a graduate student and a budding Hollywood star, or were in his orbit during tumultuous romantic relationships. They described volatile, unpredictable moments of anger, emotional abuse and occasional violence, and all spoke on condition anonymity.

Rolling Stone did not speak directly with any of Majors’ former girlfriends, however. One former colleague told the music magazine that a nondisclosure agreement prohibited them from speaking at all.

The “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” actor’s lawyer did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, but his lawyer Dustin Pusch said in a statement to Rolling Stone that he “vehemently denies” the report: “These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the article — demonstrating their outright falsity.”

Majors is in the middle of a legal struggle with a former girlfriend who accused him of domestic battery during a late-night altercation in New York. Majors denies wrongdoing and has filed his own police complaint suggesting he was the victim; a judge ruled last week that the case will go to trial Aug. 3.

Rolling stone wrote that its interviews, conducted over three months, “suggest a pattern of alleged physical, mental, and emotional abuse that dates back a decade to Majors’ time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama.” It said he was involved in physical altercations that spilled over to his movie and TV sets as his career started to take off, and that “more than a dozen sources” described abusive behavior toward two romantic partners.

It says nine people alleged that one of his girlfriends was choked and struggled to “exit” the relationship, but “he exploited his power in the relationship to prevent her from leaving him.”

“It was pervasively known that he was [a good actor], and that he also would terrorize the people that he had dated,” one anonymous source told the magazine.

Others described him as being “aggressive” at work, including shoving incident on the set of the upcoming “Magazine Dreams” described by two anonymous sources. A production source told Rolling Stone that bosses became aware of a complaint at the end of filming, but disputed that anyone was physically intimidated.

“Everyone who has worked with Mr. Majors knows that he employs an immersive Method acting style, and while that can be misconstrued as rudeness at times, those who know Mr. Majors and work in the industry have attested to his dedication to his craft as well as his kindness,” Pusch wrote in his statement to Rolling Stone.

Classmates noted Majors’ “bluntness and intensity” was part of what made him a great actor, but that it “could become too much” and that classmates felt they were in “physical danger”: “There was something else there,” one told Rolling Stone. “Things would slip out, and you knew it came from a personal place of truth. He was always working with something.”

At one point, classmates sent complaints to Yale administrators, who responded with a written reminder about decorum. A spokesperson for the program declined to comment to Rolling Stone.

The “Creed III” star has already faced repercussions for allegations of abusive behavior, with his publicists and managers parting ways and projects falling through. Marvel has yet to address its plans for “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” for which Majors was cast as the title character.

It’s ‘Barbie’ Marketing Mania at Warner Bros. and Even Competitors Are in Awe

Jonathan Majors is accused of a pattern

Video

Netflix Thai Thriller Is First In Isan Dialect – Deadline

Netflix has dropped the first trailer for dark comedy thriller The Murderer, from cult Thai filmmaker Wisit Sasanatieng, which is the streamer’s first film in Thailand’s Isan dialect.

Set in the north-eastern region of Thailand, known as Isan, the film takes place on a dark and stormy night as the police race to find the person responsible for a massacre in an isolated area. The trailer offers a glimpse into the investigation, hinting at the film’s many twists and turns.

As the film features local characters from the Isan region, it went through a meticulous casting process. Both the lead and supporting actors had to be of Isan descent and proficient in speaking the dialect.

Produced by Thailand’s Transformation Films, the film is scripted by Abishek J. Bajaj and stars Phetthai Vongkhamlao, Eisaya Hosuwan, James Laver, Sunaree Ratchasima and Sawanee Utoomma.

As director Wisit explains, Isan films tend to be simple rural comedies but The Murderer combines murder mystery, dark comedy and highly stylized visuals to break out of this mold.

“The screenplay is full of humor and satire,” Wisit says. “It reflects our society and current circumstances, such as the media’s sensationalization of murder cases. Many cases are eerily similar and the audience desires to know the truth. This movie’s screenplay is based on people’s curiosity. When we consume media, we only see what is presented to us – we seldom know the whole truth. This movie will enlighten us on what reality is like.”

The film features Wisit’s signature vivid colors, across both sets and costumes, reminiscent of his previous works, Tears Of The Black Tiger and Citizen Dog, which became cult favourites.

Wisit adds that, during filming, the crew couldn’t find a studio large enough to accommodate all the scenes within the required timeframe. To overcome this challenge, they found a house suitable for filming and covered it with massive tentage, so they could film day and night, free from adverse weather conditions.

The film is set to stream on Netflix from July 27.

Netflix has dropped the first trailer for

Entertaintment

Kevin Spacey Allegedly Performed Oral Sex On Sleeping Victim, Sexual Assault Trial Prosecutors Claim

Kevin Spacey was a ‘sexual bully,’ according to prosecutors in his sexual assault trial.

Spacey’s trial began Wednesday in London, and prosecutors laid out their allegations, including one where a man claims he passed out while drinking and smoking with Spacey, only to wake up hours later with Spacey allegedly on his knees, performing oral sex on him.

They also say one of Spacey’s drivers complained about him being very “touchy-feely” while sitting in the passenger seat.

The driver claimed Spacey got more inappropriate over time, touching his leg and rubbing his neck and eventually groping him “in an aggressive way.”

The jury was also told Spacey allegedly manhandled a man backstage at the Haymarket Theater in the West End … adding he was grabbed “with such force it was painful.”

Spacey has denied committing any of the 12 sexual assaults with which he’s charged involving 4 men.

Spacey was spotted heading into court Wednesday and seemed in good spirits. He’s facing a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Movies

Kevin Spacey Called ‘Sexual Bully’ in U.K. Trial

The actor Kevin Spacey is “a sexual bully” who “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable,” a prosecutor told a British jury on Friday. Speaking at Southwark Crown Court, the prosecutor, Christine Agnew, outlined her case against the Academy Award-winning actor, who is on trial in London facing multiple charges of sexual assault.

Ms. Agnew said that the actor’s “preferred method” of assault was to “aggressively grab other men in the crotch.” On one occasion, she said, Mr. Spacey had gone further and performed oral sex on a man while he was asleep.

The actor “abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him” to take “who he wanted, when he wanted,” Ms. Agnew said.

Mr. Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The actor, 63, faces 12 charges related to incidents that the prosecution says involved four men and occurred between 2001 and 2013. For much of that period, Mr. Spacey was the artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London.

Ms. Agnew said that the complainants included an aspiring actor and a man whom Mr. Spacey had met at a work event. Under British law, it is illegal to identify complainants in sexual assault cases or to publish information that may cause them to be identified.

Patrick Gibbs, Mr. Spacey’s legal representative, gave a short statement stressing his client’s innocence. He said the jury would hear some half truths, some “deliberate exaggerations” and “many damned lies.”

He asked the jury to consider the complainants’ motivations, and to think about whether the encounters could have been “reasonably believed to be consensual at the time.”

Ms. Agnew’s statement outlined each of the complainants’ specific accusations. She said that three accusers told the police that Mr. Spacey had grabbed their crotches, and one said Mr. Spacey had repeatedly placed the man’s hands onto his own crotch.

On one occasion, Ms. Agnew said, one of the men told Mr. Spacey never to grab him again. Mr. Spacey’s response was to laugh, then remark that the complainants’s anger “turned him on,” Ms. Agnew said.

The jury would also hear, Ms. Agnew said, from a man who says he went for a drink at Mr. Spacey’s apartment, where he fell asleep. A few hours later, the man woke to discover Mr. Spacey on his knees, performing oral sex on him, Ms. Agnew said. The man says that he pushed Mr. Spacey away, then the actor asked him to leave, Ms. Agnew added.

She also discussed interviews that Mr. Spacey had given to the British police under caution. During one of those, she said, Mr. Spacey said that it was “entirely possible and indeed likely” that he had made “a clumsy pass” at other men but that he would never have touched someone’s crotch “without an indication of consent.”

Throughout Ms. Agnew’s almost 60-minute opening statement, Mr. Spacey sat in a large transparent box in the middle of the courtroom, wearing a light gray suit, white shirt and gold tie, watching intently. On several occasions, he looked at photographs in an evidence bundle. When Mr. Gibbs spoke, Mr. Spacey nodded along and looked at the jury.

Friday morning’s session ended shortly after Mr. Gibbs’s comments. The prosecution is scheduled to call its first witnesses on Monday.

The actor Kevin Spacey is “a sexual

‘Cinema Laika’ Documentary Boarded by the Match Factory

Sales company The Match Factory has boarded the documentary “Cinéma Laika,” which focuses on Aki Kaurismäki’s construction of his own movie theater in Karkkila, Finland. Veljko Vidak directed the film, which was shot “in close harmony with Kaurismäki’s cinematic style,” according to a statement.

The documentary offers an opportunity for the audience to delve into the realm of the Finnish master, engage with his peers, including Jim Jarmusch, and fully immerse themselves in the world of Kaurismäki’s cinema.

In Karkkila, a small village in Finland, which has relied solely on metallurgical activities for the past two centuries, Kaurismäki and his friend the poet and writer Mika Lätti construct their own movie theater, called Kino Laika, within an old foundry. Using recycled wood and metal, and pre-owned furniture, Kaurismäki and the residents of Karkkila collaboratively craft Kino Laika.

The venue is surrounded by Cadillacs, motorcycles, rock bars, and the awe-inspiring beauty of nature, “encapsulating the very essence of cinema’s enchantment—a place where the magic resides in its profound capacity to instigate change.”

Thania Dimitrakopoulou, head of acquisitions and sales at The Match Factory, said: “In an era marked by the closure of cinema theaters, the endeavors of Aki Kaurismäki in Karkkila assume an even greater significance. Veljko Vidak adeptly captures in his documentary the profound impact of cinema on a community. We are proud to present his work to the market.”

Vidak is a Croatian artists and filmmaker. He exhibits regularly in France and his works have traveled the world. “Cinéma Laika” is his first documentary.

The film is a production by 43e Parallèle Productions and Les Films du Worso in co-production with Kaurismäki’s production company Sputnik Oy, and with the support of Ciné+, Procirep-Angoa, and the city of Karkkila, Finland.

The film screened on June 24 at the 37th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, organized by the Cineteca di Bologna.

The Match Factory represents the complete filmography of Kaurismäki.

“Cinema Laika”
Courtesy of 43e Parallele

Sales company The Match Factory has boarded

MCU

Anthony Mackie Thought He Would Be Black Panther Before Being Cast as Sam Wilson

Long before he joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Sam Wilson a.k.a. the Falcon, Anthony Mackie campaigned to play Black Panther.

According to the actor, as Marvel continued to create the MCU, he figured that the only prominent Black superhero the studio might develop.

Image Credit: Getty Images

“I had been contacting Marvel a lot about Black Panther,” Mackie said. “I had written them letters. I was trying to find a way to make them make Black Panther. And I wanted to be Black Panther because growing up I [freaking] loved Black Panther.”

Meeting With The Marvel Brass

Mackie ended up landing a meeting with Marvel producer Nate Moore and directors Joe and Anthony Russo when the team was developing Captain America: The Winder Soldier. Since no one told Mackie what character he would be playing, he just assumed it was Black Panther.

Image Credit: AP Images/Invision

“I’ll never forget, Joe Russo said, ‘Listen, so we’re doing this movie. We want you to be in it. We can’t say what character you’re playing or who else is going to be in it. Would you do it?’ And that was it,” Mackie remembered. “I was like, ‘You know what, I like y’all dudes. I’ll do it. I’ll go on this ride with you.’”

Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

Becoming Sam Wilson

When the offer finally came from Mavel, Mackie was shocked that it was for the role of Falcon and not Black Panther.

“What other major comic book figure has enough of a presence to have his own movie?” Mackie said. “So when they hit me up and they were like, ‘Yo, so it’s Sam Wilson,’ I’m like, ‘Really?’”

Marvel would eventually make its own Black Panther movie with the late Chadwick Boseman playing the titular role. Mackie, for his part, would reprise his role as Sam Wilson in Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. He then got his own Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which sets Sam up to be the next Captain America.

Assuming The Role of Captain America

With Mackie set to take on the mantle in Captain America: Brave New World, the veteran actor admits that he feels the pressure.

“There’s a huge amount of pressure,” Mackie told Inverse. But at the same time, it’s all in the state of mind. I’ve been given a great cast. I’ve been given a great group of people who I’ve worked with before.”

While Mackie may be feeling the pressure to assume the role of Captain America, Chris Evans, who previously held the shield, knows Mackie is up for the challenge.

“His energy and his versatility. Both as a person and as an actor,” Evans said. “I’ve never seen him tired, and there’s nothing he can’t do. He’s a true Renaissance man.”

Photo: Also Collider

Captain America: Brave New World will hit theaters on May 3, 2024.

Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below and one of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!

Long before he

DCU

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom Will Be Standalone, James Wan Reveals

Director James Wan has revealed that the upcoming DC sequel, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, will be a standalone comic book movie outing. Speaking with Comicbook.com, Wan explained that the Aquaman sequel will largely stand apart from the rest of the DC cinematic universe, which is sure to come as a major positive considering that this version of the DC universe will soon come to an end.

“Well, Aquaman – even the first film – has always been a very standalone film. That was always our approach: that it kind of lives in its own world, and that’s kind of how we’ve approached The Lost Kingdom as well.”

Not only will Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom go it alone, Wan also declared that the follow-up will take things “to the next level,” giving audiences more action and more Momoa.

“You know, people love Jason Momoa; people love him playing this role; and people love the action visuals of this space and this world. And that’s what we’re doing: we’re taking it to the next level and we are still expanding – and just any fans of Aquaman the character, that love Black Manta, this is the next level and I’m very excited to finally put out there to show them what we’ve been working on all these years.”

Directed by James Wan from a screenplay written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldric, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom finds Momoa’s Arthur Curry fighting the good fight once again when an ancient power is unleashed. Aquaman must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will reunite several members of the cast from the first movie, including Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Amber Heard as Mera, Patrick Wilson as Orm Marius/Ocean Master, Dolph Lundgren as King Nereus, Temuera Morrison as Thomas Curry, Arthur’s father, and Nicole Kidman as Atlanna, Arthur’s mother and the former queen of Atlantis. The DC sequel will also add the likes of Randall Park, Vincent Regan, Jani Zhao, Pose breakout star Indya Moore, and Pilou Asbæk.

The DCU Is All Set to Be Rebooted by James Gunn & Peter Safran

Warner Bros.

The likes of The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have now been confirmed as the last outings in this iteration of the DC universe that began back in 2013’s Man of Steel. The franchise will be rebooted by Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran, with the upcoming Superman reboot, Superman: Legacy, all set to kickstart the new DCU.

Starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan, Superman: Legacy is scheduled to be released on 11 July 2025, and will be followed up with the superhero team-up flick The Authority, a Batman project titled The Brave and the Bold, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, a Swamp Thing reboot, a Wonder Woman prequel series titled Paradise Lost, the animated series Creature Commandos, a series centered on Amanda Waller, a Green Lantern series titled Lanterns, and a series about Booster Gold.

But, could Aquaman star Jason Momoa play a different role in James Gunn’s DCU? While nothing has been confirmed so far, rumors have claimed for some time that Momoa will change roles for the newly recalibrated DCU, departing the role of Aquaman in favor of the intergalactic antihero, Lobo.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is scheduled to be released on December 20, 2023.

Director James Wan has revealed that the

Comics

John Wick: Chapter 4 Getting an Even Longer Director’s Cut

John Wick: Chapter 4 is getting a Director’s Cut, extending the longest movie in the gun-fu Keanu Reeves action franchise even further.

The fourth entry clocked in a total runtime of two hours and 49 minutes (including credits), but an even lengthier version is right around the corner. Director Chad Stahelski recently confirmed to Comic Book Movie he has almost finished work on the extended Director’s Cut.

“I’ve been working on the Director’s Cut, the extended cut, which we’ve almost finished,” he revealed. “There’s about another, I think, 10 to 15 minutes we put back in. We cut out a big chunk of Berlin, a whole character called The Frau, which is a pretty funny scene with John, and another scene between him and Tracker, a few other little action beats that we put back in.”

The first cut of the film was three hours and 45 minutes long. Stahelski explained he was conscious of the pacing when viewing the movie in post-production, but a stringent editing process meant some first-rate scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.

“There’s always stuff we take out because it doesn’t fit the pacing,” he added. “I think the stuff is all super quality, I love the choreo, I love the characters. It just didn’t – as a whole, it changed the pace of the film, and I didn’t think I could get, you know, two hour and 38-minute film in there if it felt slow. I think we got away with it because it felt driven, it felt like it was very purposeful, and I didn’t want to upset that pace. And, if it has to go, it has to go.”

Each installment of the franchise has increased in length since the original John Wick came out in 2014. That first movie sits at a runtime of 101 minutes. The second film took the series international and ran at 122 minutes, while the third clocked in a total runtime of 131 minutes.

Lionsgate already confirmed it was considering a fifth installment shortly after the fourth film’s box office triumph. The tricky thing is John Wick: Chapter 4 was largely viewed to be the final movie of the main franchise (see a spoiler-filled breakdown of the ending here).

But with or without a fifth main installment, there is still plenty more in the John Wick franchise to come. The Continental, a 1970s-set prequel series, will arrive on Peacock in September, and a spinoff film, Ballerina starring Ana de Armas, will debut on June 7, 2024.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. Follow her on Twitter.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is getting a

Festivals

SAG-AFTRA & Kevin Spacey Feature In International Insider – Deadline

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week to look back on the last seven days in international film and TV. Here we go. Also, sign up for the Insider newsletter here.

SAG-AFTRA Strike Looms

HBO; Penske Media; Everett Collection

Clock’s ticking: Time is running out for SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP to strike a new deal and avoid an actors strike before the current contract runs out today, though our U.S. colleagues Dominic Patten and Anthony D’Alessandro revealed on Wednesday talks may extend to next week or even later. Fingers remain crossed at these signs of progress. Negotiations are at a critical stage, with more than 1,000 actors, including Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, signing a letter stating they are “prepared to strike.” In Europe, producers, studios, networks and actors have been peering pensively across the pond. Unions in English-speaking countries appear less prepared to act in solidarity with their U.S. counterparts than was the case with the WGA and the writers. We posed the question to several guilds, and most were unwilling to state a position or offer their members guidance until more is known. Only one union in Australia confirmed it was planning to support SAG-AFTRA and had been communicating with the U.S. guild. Everyone seeingly wants to avoid the confusion that came with the WGA strike, where overseas workers weren’t sure what they could and couldn’t work on.

Primer: Overnight, Deadline’s handy primer about how Hollywood and beyond would be hit by a strike has dropped. The piece walks you through TV, film, festivals, indie pics and Wall Street, leaving no stone unturned. Shows such as House of the Dragon, Industry and Andor, which have kept going during the writers strike, would likely be hit, while Europe-shooting movies such as Paramount’s Gladiator 2 are under the microscope. The impact of a strike would be “sudden and significant for the international business as well as the U.S industry,” our colleagues write. Dive deeper here. And for our full coverage of the potential actors strike, go here.

Kevin Spacey Trial Begins

“The defendant will be gratified to know you have seen his films”: As Insider goes to press, the prosecution is making its opening arguments in the trial of Kevin Spacey. The Usual Suspects and American Beauty star faces 12 counts related to sexual assault and indecent assault. He arrived at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday morning, taking time to smile, wave and say “good morning” to the assembled crowd. Spacey strenuously denies the charges against him and has taken a bold stance, telling a German magazine recently that he expects to get work “the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.” The coming weeks will clearly be career defining. The incidents all go back at least a decade. Spacey has been the subject of numerous legal cases since he was first publicly accused of sexually abusing actor Anthony Rapp when the Oscar winner was 26 and Rapp 14. Spacey beat a $40M civil case that Star Trek: Discovery actor Rapp brought against him last year. The jury for Spacey’s UK case was sworn in Wednesday, with the judge warning the 14 not to use computers for anything to do with the trial, which will “quite obviously” attract media attention. Prior to their selection, the judge told the prospective jurors: “I am sure the defendant will be gratified to know that many of you will know his name or have seen his films.” Read about the first week of the legal proceedings here and more about Spacey’s legal woes here.

Opening salvos: In her opening remarks, prosecutor Christine Agnew called Spacey — who’s being tried under his real name Kevin Spacey Fowler — a “sexual bully” who “sexually assaults other men.” She laid out a series of allegations, including complainants waking up to find Spacey performing oral sex on them to “grabbing [a complainant’s] penis with such force it was painful.” In response, Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, said the jury would hear “many damned lies” and that Spacey had returned to the UK to face trial so he could answer the allegations with “what actually happened.” The trial is expected to last four weeks and we’ll be reporting on all the key moments.

Taormina Tales

Taormina Film Festival — Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images

“All the attributes”: The Deadline team have been in Taormina this week, covering one of the buzziest film festivals around. Kicking off its 69th edition with a “Pavarotti Forever” benefit in the beautiful Italian town, much was riding on this starry edition, and new head Barrett Wissman told Mel he had been “fascinated to find a rare festival with all the attributes that this place has.” As the fest kicked off in earnest, Mike Fleming spoke with Amber Heard. Coming off years of legal battles with Johnny Depp, Heard, whose In the Fire was premiering at Taormina, had a few things to say, revealing first and foremost that she had injured her wrist trying to swat a fly. It’s been a difficult few years for the actress and the full piece is well worth a read. Some serious star quality was in the building, with Harrison Ford around to speak on the occasion of the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiere, the highly-anticipated latest in the franchise. Check out his fascinating Deadline Studios chat with Mike here. Also checking into Deadline Studios were Bella Thorne, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelson and Abel Ferrara. All of our coverage can be found here.

All3 In The Money

The Traitors — BBC/Studio Lambert Associates/Mark Mainz

One billion reasons to feel good: Over the last few years, much of the super-indie chatter has revolved around Banijay and Fremantle, who’ve aggressively expanded their international assets. The other big player on the TV indie production scene, All3Media, has been much quieter. Speculation over its future cranked up last year after part-owner Discovery merged with Warner Bros., which already has extensive international production assets. It then emerged WBD and co-owner Liberty Global were exploring a sale, followed by confirmation UK network ITV was “actively exploring” an acquisition of the Traitors, Gogglebox and Fleabag maker. Banijay and Fremantle have also been linked with a deal. Max and Jake dug through All3’s latest set of accounts to find that it had, for the first time, hit the £1B ($1.3B) revenue mark in the 2022 calendar year, while EBITDA topped £100M ($130M) — another first. At the same time, buried deep in the financials was the news All3 had upped its voting rights in The Traitors and Gogglebox maker Studio Lambert to a majority position, meaning the parent’s shareholders now have the right to vote on certain company matters. Studio Lambert also goes from an affiliate to a subsidiary, essentially bringing it closer to the mothership. Lambert’s programs are hot property right now. Last week, Max revealed ITV had earlier this year put in an audacious bid to grab meta-telly-watching entertainment show Gogglebox from Channel 4, but failed. Bean counters and financially-minded folk should head here for more on All3’s latest accounts.

Sky Deutschland Out Of Originals Game

Shocker: Last year, the European production market was rocked by the news HBO Max was pulling out of production in most territories across the continent. This week, there was more bad news as Sky Deutschland took the decision to bin off its original productions in Germany in 2024. Somewhat ironoically, WBD unveiled its first original from Spain — one of two territories unaffected by its European exit — this week. Back in Germany, shocked Sky staffers will see the scripted team disbanded once current productions are completed with others going into turnaround. Sky Deutschland is behind shows such as Das Boot, Munich Games and Babylon Berlin (more on that below) but with the cost of scripted production continuing to “rise,” according to Sky Deutschland boss Devesh Raj, new projects are grinding to a halt. Sky will continue to make shows in the UK and Italy, its other two main European bases.

‘Babylon’ goes on: The highest profile casualty of Sky’s move looked to be Babylon Berlin, the big-budget neo-noir drama series that was considered to have reinvented ambitions for a mainland European drama production when it was first ordered back in 2015. However, its makers (and free TV network ARD) were quick to say the show would have a fifth season, releasing a calming statement just hours after the news broke yesterday. Beta Film, X-Filme and ARD Degeto, the production wing of ARD, will continue with the show, though a spokesperson couldn’t say how Sky’s financial share will be covered at this stage. The show has had an extremely unusual production and financing set-up — with Sky getting a first window several months before public network ARD runs the same episodes. Beta has international sales rights and covers its investment in the production through deal-making. To date, sales have been made into 140 territories. I told you it was complicated.

The Essentials

Gary Lineker Tim Davie — Christopher Furlong / Alex Pantling / Getty Images

?️ Hot One: Tim Davie was in contact with a top government official on the day he suspended Gary Lineker, bombshell documents revealed.

?️ Another one: Netflix signed a five-year collaboration with Monster screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto.

?️ Another: Disney+ greenlit a tense drama from The Power of the Dog and It’s a Sin producers.

⛺ Festival latest: Crisis at Busan with the confirmed dismissal of MD Cho Jongkook.

⛺ More festivals: Louis Theroux will deliver Edinburgh’s annual MacTaggart.

? Casting: Unorthodox star Shira Haas boarded Israel’s Night Therapy.

? New faces: Black Bear set its UK distribution team.

? Done deal: Banijay UK invested in James Norton and Kitty Kaletsky’s Rabbit Track.

? Restructure: Cineworld filed for administration in the UK.

?️ Slate: From Prime Video Nordics, including another version of LOL.

??????? Reynolds latest: Ryan invested in an F1 team and launched a Welsh language channel.

? Breaking Baz: Critics Choice Awards chief Joey Berlin was in Baz’s spotlight this week.

? Box office: Elemental sparked overseas.

? Rocketman: Elton John’s Glastonbury finale became one of the most watched UK TV broadcasts of the year.

? Trail: For Empty Nets, which will comprise part of Karlovy Vary’s Iran retrospective.

Max Goldbart contributed to this week’s International Insider.

Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you

Melanie Lynskey Shares Touching Farewell Post to Julian Sands Following Confirmation of his Death

Melanie Lynskey shared a touching farewell post of actor Julian Sands, whose remains were found in the San Gabriel mountains earlier this week following a months-long search. The “Yellowjackets” star had been friends with Sands since 2000, when they worked together on the set of “Red Rose.”

Lynskey said she’d been a fan of Sands’ film “A Room with a View,” and recalled being nervous to work alongside the actor, but took note of his positive qualities.

“I could barely speak to you,” she wrote in her Instagram post Wednesday. “When I did finally tell you what the movie/you meant to me, I was struck by your humility, your lack of ego, the absence of any grandstanding. “

Lynskey recalled growing close with Sands over the following years, and being taken aback by his generosity.

“You bought me so many presents, mostly huge and intimidating non-fiction books and classical music CDs,” she continued. “You found out I’d never been to the opera, and so you came to my apartment one night and picked me up, took me out for champagne, and took me to the opera. You giggled when I yawned.”

The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Sands’ death Tuesday after he went missing January 13. Sands was 65.

“You were gracious and patient and tons of fun,” Lynskey said of her friend. View her full Instagram post below:

Search for Julian Sands Continues – 5 Months After Actor Was Reported Missing

USD POLL : Which new TV shows premiering in July do you plan on watching?

Melanie Lynskey shared a touching farewell post

What to Watch

USD POLL : Which new TV shows premiering in July do you plan on watching?

Today’s User Submitted Daily (USD) Poll was submitted by <bMocha who was picked randomly from our Poll Submissions (see below). Want to see your Poll posted on the site? Click here to submit your poll.

Let us know in the comments what you voted for and why?

You can vote for unlimited Options.

Recent USD Polls

Today's User Submitted Daily (USD) Poll was

Awards

Prosecution Makes Opening Arguments – Deadline

UPDATED WITH COMPLAINANT TESTIMONY 03.51 a.m. PT: Kevin Spacey has been labelled a “sexual bully” who “sexually assaults other men” and “delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable” by the prosecutor opening the American Beauty star’s trial. Spacey was variously accused this morning by complainants of waking up to find him performing oral sex on them and of “grabbing [the complainant’s] penis with such force it was painful.”

Christine Agnew KC for the prosecution told 12 jurors that Spacey’s preferred method of assault is to “grab aggressively other men in the crotch” but that “on one occasion things went further than that.” The Oscar-winning House of Cards and Se7en star denies the 12 charges against him, including sexual assault and indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.

Agnew, who urged jurors to “keep yourself grounded” and avoid becoming “star struck,” said the jury over the next four weeks will hear from four men during the trial, all in their 20s or 30s, who attracted the attention of Spacey — who is being tried under his real name, Kevin Spacey Fowler.

She said: “None of the men wanted to be touched by Kevin Spacey Fowler in a sexual way but he doesn’t seem to have cared very much for their feelings. He did what he wanted to do for his own personal sexual gratification.”

“What does the defendant say in answer to these allegations?,” she added. “Well, in relation to some he suggests that they are quite simply made up. In relation to others, he accepts that there was a sexual encounter between him and the other man but asserts that anything that took place would have taken place with the consent of the other man.”

Agnew labelled Spacey a man who “sexually assaults other men, a man who does not respect personal boundaries or space, a man who it would seem delights in making others feel powerless and uncomfortable, a sexual bully.”

Concluding her opening remarks to the jury, Agnew KC said Spacey had “abused the power and influence that his reputation and fame afforded him.”

“Grabbed [the complainant’s] penis with such force it was painful”

Jurors were told about the first complainant, who Spacey employed as a driver when he visited London. He was aged between 30 and 34 during the period.

“Unusually the defendant would normally sit in the front passenger’s seat of the car,” said Agnew. “When he started driving him [the complainant] recalls that he was very ‘touchy feely’ and someone who spoke quite openly about his sexuality.”

The complainant, who Agnew said describes himself as “a ‘man’s man’,” found this “unusual” and felt “uncomfortable and awkward when he was required to be around Kevin Spacey Fowler because of his sexualised behaviour.”

Over time, Agnew said, the “inappropriate and unwelcome touching became more intense and progressed to Mr Spacey stoking [the complainant’s] leg and rubbing his neck.” The behavior became more “aggressive” with Spacey escalating his actions to “grab and grope” the complainant.

The second complainant, who was around 28 at the time, recalled Spacey asking if they had “f****ed” during an encounter at the Haymarket Theatre in London. Agnew said Spacey had put his hand on the complainant’s leg. Later, Spacey “grabbed [the complainant’s] penis with such force it was painful” while showing him around the venue’s backstage.

Agnew added that Spacey “simply laughed” after the complainant pushed him away.

The third complainant said he woke up to find Spacey performing oral sex on him after meeting in the actors’ apartment.

When Spacey went to hug him, “(The complainant) did not move to hug him back as he thought it was a ‘bit weird’, so Kevin Spacey Fowler stretched forward, hugged him around the waist and in doing so put his face into (the complainant’s) crotch,” according to Agnew.

Jurors heard how the complainant moved away and later “fell asleep or passed out”, commenting afterwards that it was “unusual” for him to “conk out”. The court heard the complainant woke up later to find Spacey performing oral sex on him.

“Despite (the complainant) saying no he continued so (the complainant) pushed him off,” the prosecutor said. Agnew added that Spacey told the complainant not to tell anyone what happened before the man went to a bus stop “where he sat and cried.”

The fourth complainant says Spacey kissed his neck twice and grabbed his crotch in a pub in a village near Oxford in 2013, according to Agnew. “(The complainant) pushed the defendant against a wall and said, ‘Sorry man I don’t bat for that team’,” added the prosuector.

Spacey arrived at Southwark Crown Court in a taxi a couple of hours ago looking calm in images supplied by the Press Association. He is likely to appear on each day the trial sits during the next four weeks but won’t necessarily take the stand.

Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire

In an initial court hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in June, Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs QC, said his client “strenuously denies any and all criminality in this case”. Speaking to ZEITmagazin earlier this month, Spacey said “there are people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”

Before the jury panel was selected for the trial, Mr Justice Mark Wall told prospective jurors: “I am sure the defendant will be gratified to know that many of you will know his name or have seen his films.”

On Wednesday, the judge said the case has “quite obviously” attracted a lot of media attention, but that they “must avoid this coverage where you can”.

Spacey has an address in Waterloo, south London, but also lives in the U.S., where he has family and a dog.

The trial continues.

UPDATED WITH COMPLAINANT TESTIMONY 03.51 a.m. PT:

Music

Peso Pluma / Gabito Ballesteros / Junior H: “Lady Gaga” Track Review

Peso Pluma is knocking the dust off of corrido music, ushering in a new evolution of the centuries-old Mexican genre. The 24-year-old grew up absorbing the folk sounds of Guadalajara while embracing the rise of modern reggaeton and trap Latino; this year, he has become one of the most popular Latin artists in the world. His single “Ella Baila Sola,” with Eslabon Armado, made history by becoming the first regional Mexican song to reach the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100, and his remix of Yng Lvcas’ reggaeton hit “La Bebe” came close behind. “Regional Mexican” is not a genre, but, still—Pluma’s music is bringing mainstream attention to a proud array of traditional genres that sit beside corridos like norteños, rancheras, and banda.

His new album, Génesis, marks a turning point in Mexican music’s worldwide crossover, spanning a range of styles: “VVS” charges forth with hip-hop bars and, somehow, addictive accordion and upright bass while “Lagunas” is a starry-eyed bedroom pop-corrido that’s sure to be a hit at forthcoming quinceañeras. One standout is the acoustic ballad “Lady Gaga,” which puts a Gen Z spin on classic corrido with references to Grand Theft Auto, Instagram, and influencer culture. Assisted by singers Gabito Ballesteros and Junior H, Pluma inhabits a protagonist who’s acclimating to an extravagant new lifestyle. “Dom Pérignon Lady Gaga, lentes en la cara, tussi y lavada/Triple lavada, y una bandida que me llama, quieren mi lana,” he sings in his nasally rasp. It feels like a sad boy Southern rap song about how money can buy everything besides genuine connection, if the 808s were swapped with tubas. For Peso Pluma, being true to himself is bringing corrido’s complex history to the forefront of Latin music.

Peso Pluma is knocking the dust off

Docs

"Casa Susanna" reveals a hidden transgender history

“Casa Susanna” reflects on a haven for transgender expression in the Catskills that was kept secret for decades. French filmmaker Sébastien Lifshitz profiles four people whose lives were profoundly intertwined with this history.

"Casa Susanna" reflects on a haven for

Global

Will fire bans hamper your Canada Day fun? What is and isn’t allowed this year – National

This year’s Canada Day might feel a bit less festive for many.

As Canadians grapple with a record wildfire season, parts of the country are under a fire ban ahead of the long weekend.

Restrictions on outdoor fires are in place in several provinces which means many people will have to celebrate the national holiday without campfires and fireworks this year.

“Fireworks and the celebration of Canada Day are a longstanding tradition in this country. Having said that, there are provisions in place, whether that’s in northern Ontario or western Quebec, where there are fire bans in place, which includes campfires along with fireworks,” said Aleem Kanji, the chief advocacy officer for the Canadian National Fireworks Association.

“We encourage anyone that is using fireworks this year to celebrate responsibly and celebrate safely and follow the rules,” he told Global News.

Story continues below advertisement

Click to play video: 'Special air quality advisories in effect for portions of southwestern Ontario'

2:38
Special air quality advisories in effect for portions of southwestern Ontario

As of June 28, 500 active wildfires were burning in Canada with more than half (255) out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

Given the level of destruction and the risks of starting more fires, local jurisdictions are taking necessary precautions while adapting their Canada Day celebrations.

The smallest spark can get away really quickly and start a wildfire, especially when it’s hot and dry, said Keri Martens, deputy chief with the Banff Fire Department in Alberta.

“I think it’s the responsibility of everybody that’s out and about recreating to be aware of their surroundings, be aware of the fire bans, the advisories that are in place, and to do your part to prevent any more wildfires from starting,” she told Global News in an interview.

Story continues below advertisement

Here is a look at the fire restrictions across the country right now.

What restrictions are in place?

In Ontario, much of the province is under the Restricted Fire Zone, which means fireworks, campfires and the burning of grass or debris are prohibited.

However, there some are exemptions to the rule.

“If strict criteria are met, campfires and charcoal barbeques may be allowed in organized campgrounds or provincial parks,” the Ontario government website states.

Southern cities, including Ottawa, Toronto, Windsor, Hamilton, Barrie, London and Kingston, are not under a fire ban and will be going ahead with their firework displays.

A Restricted Fire Zone (RFZ) is in effect for the entire fire region of Ontario (Zones 1 to 36) due to extreme forest fire conditions. Open air burning, including campfires, is not permitted in a #RestrictedFireZone. Visit https://t.co/XPnoZFTS24 for more details. pic.twitter.com/mSCshObXm1

— Ontario Forest Fires (@ONforestfires) June 9, 2023

Story continues below advertisement

Open fires are banned in several regions of Quebec, so bonfires and fireworks are prohibited.

Flying lanterns and flame-producing instruments are also not allowed under the ban, according to the Quebec forest fire fighting society (SOPFEU).

However, propane or ethanol fireplaces with spark arresters that are placed on clay or gravel ground are permitted.

On Thursday, Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests announced the partial lifting of the ban on open fires in or near the forest in southern and eastern regions of the province due to favourable weather conditions.

Montreal has cancelled its Canada Day fireworks plans due to smog warnings, while amusement park La Ronde has cancelled the first night of an international fireworks festival because of concerns over air quality stemming from forest fires.

In Alberta, where a provincial state of emergency expired earlier this month, fire restrictions are in place in the southern, central and western regions.

This means campfires on public lands, fireworks, and exploding targets are not allowed, but people can start safe wood campfires in designated places, backyards and on private properties.

A fire ban is in effect the Village of Edgerton, the municipal district of Fairview and Cyprus County, prohibiting campfires everywhere.

Story continues below advertisement

Click to play video: 'City of Calgary reverses decision, traditional fireworks will be used on Canada Day'

2:31
City of Calgary reverses decision, traditional fireworks will be used on Canada Day

Martens said there will be no fireworks in Banff and the larger Bow Valley this weekend, partly because of the fire hazard and also to protect wildlife, she said.

“Everything will be light shows and things like that.”

In British Columbia, a Category 2 and 3 open burning ban is in effect across the province, covering all six fire centres.

Campfires, fireworks, firecrackers, sky lanterns, burning barrels and cages are not allowed.

Click to play video: 'Canada Day fireworks cancelled in Vancouver'

0:33
Canada Day fireworks cancelled in Vancouver

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan lifted its provincial fire ban following cooler, rainy weather late last month.

Story continues below advertisement

Nova Scotia also ended a provincewide burn ban and restrictions on travel and activities in the woods on June 13.

In Manitoba, as of June 27, there were no fire restrictions, but the government is reminding residents to never leave an outdoor fire unattended and always extinguish it before leaving.

Click to play video: 'Take precautions to help prevent wildfires: SPSA'

3:51
Take precautions to help prevent wildfires: SPSA

So far this year, 3,038 wildfires have torched nearly eight million hectares of land in Canada — surpassing the country’s record for the most area burned in a single year in less than six months.

If your city is not setting off fireworks this year, there are a number of other safe alternatives, such as drone light shows, glow sticks, LED sparklers and fibre optic wands.

— with files from The Canadian Press

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

This year’s Canada Day might feel a

Trending

Kevin Costner Can’t Afford Child Support Demands Without ‘Yellowstone’

Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock

Kevin Costner claimed he cannot afford to pay estranged wife Christine Baumgartner $248,000 a month in child support now that he is no longer “under contract” for Yellowstone.

“I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022. This is because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone, the principal source of my income last year,” Costner, 68, stated in documents filed on Wednesday, June 28, and obtained by Us Weekly the following day. “The fixed amount ‘pay or play’ and episodic compensation I received has ceased. Now, any compensation I earn from Yellowstone will derive only from my back-end contractual participation rights, which amounts are not fixed.”

Costner, who has starred as patriarch John Dutton on the family drama since it premiered in 2018, added that a “recent report from the producer for Yellowstone showed he was not owed any participation money” — a claim he has since “disputed” — and that he has yet to receive any compensation from the series this year.

Paramount Network officially announced in May that Yellowstone will end with its fifth season, the first half of which concluded in January. The second batch of episodes were initially slated to premiere in the summer, but were pushed back to fall. The news came after months of speculation about a rift between creator Taylor Sheridan and Costner, who reportedly wanted off the series. The extent of Costner’s participation in the final episodes of Yellowstone has yet to be confirmed. (Paramount has yet to reply to a request for comment from Us Weekly.)

Last week, Baumgartner, 49 — who filed for divorce from Costner in May — claimed in documents obtained by Us that her estranged husband makes an estimated $1,537,000 a month from his various jobs as an actor and director. She listed their monthly expenses — which have been paid entirely by Costner — as over $550,000 and noted she did not have the funds to maintain the family’s current lifestyle. (She filed the paperwork after Costner took legal action to oust her from their shared home.)

Costner, however, stated in Wednesday’s documents that his estranged wife did “not give a true picture of my cash flow” by “looking only at last year’s income.” Due to the nature of his career, Costner said that how much he earns is “variable and can change quite dramatically” depending on the year. He called her request for $248,000 a month “astonishing” and something he can’t afford to pay. “Nor can I afford to pay those amounts and pay my living and business expenses without liquidating assets,” he added.

Costner, who shares children Cayden 16, Hayden 14, and Grace, 13, with Baumgartner, also noted in his filing that he told his estranged wife 2023 “would be a difficult year financially” if he was not working on Yellowstone and he would likely have to “defer my salary on the Horizon film projects to the back-end (which I did). Christine told me she understood.”

The Horizon saga — which is co-written, produced and directed by Costner — is an upcoming American epic Western film costarring Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson and Thomas Haden Church. Three sequels have already been greenlit, with the first having begun filming in August 2022. In May, Costner confirmed that filming was underway on the second movie.

To counter Baumgarner’s $280,000 per month request, Costner — who said Baumgartner allegedly “allocates 60 percent of expenses” for personal needs like “a private trainer” and “plastic surgery” — offered on Thursday to continue to pay $51,940 a month plus 100 percent of the children’s health insurance, their extracurricular expenses, daughter Grace’s private school tuition and Cayden’s car costs.

Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock Kevin Costner claimed he cannot afford

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 11: Dylan Mulvaney attends The 76th Annual Tony Awards at United Palace Theater on June 11, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)

Tech

Dylan Mulvaney Says Bud Light Did Not Stand By Her Amid ‘Bullying’

Dylan Mulvaney recently called out Bud Light, for not supporting her, after enlisting the influencer for a sponsored post that invoked an ongoing flow of extreme backlash.

The celebrity influencer posted an Instagram video speaking out against the backlash she had been receiving since her April partnership with the beer company. She noted that since the initial Instagram-sponsored post, she still has yet to receive support from Bud Light.

In the four-minute video, Mulvaney discussed how the partnership’s controversy has impacted her mental health and overall well-being, after being “ridiculed in public.” But as controversy continued, Mulvaney remained quiet and hoped the beer company would stand by their partnership, and much to her dismay, they left the influencer to face the backlash alone.

“For a company to hire a trans person and then to not publicly stand by them is worse, in my opinion, than not hiring a trans personal at all because it gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want,” said Mulvaney.

She noted that she originally took the brand deal because Bud Light was a company she “loved.” But quickly consumers expressed their outrage at the post, and Mulvaney explained, “It must have been a slow news week because the way that this ad got blown up, you would’ve thought I was like on a billboard or on a TV commercial or something major. But no, it was just an Instagram video.”

After waiting a few months to discuss the ongoing controversy, that has caused celebrities and fans alike to express their dissatisfaction with the company, Mulvaney said “I’m bringing it up because what transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined.”

“I should’ve made this video months ago but I didn’t,” continued Mulvaney. “I was scared of more backlash, and I felt personally guilty for what transpired.”

Mulvaney continued, “For months now, I’ve been scared to leave the house. I’ve been ridiculed in public. I’ve been followed, and I have felt a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And I’m not telling you this because I want your pity, I’m telling you this because if this is my experience from a very privileged perspective, know that it is much, much worse for other trans people.”

Mulvaney posted the video as Pride Month concludes and noted how she has worked with other companies that support and care for the LGBTQ community. “I’ve worked with some fantastic companies who care, but caring about the LGBTQ+ community requires a lot more than just a donation somewhere during Pride Month.”

While several conservative celebrities, including Kid Rock and Travis Tritt, have expressed their frustration with Bud Light, Mulvaney received a flood of comments from supportive celebrities and fans on her latest video.

Ellen DeGeneres wrote, “We still have a long way to go, but things will get better, and they’ll get better because of you.” While “Queer Eye’s” Jonathan Van Ness commented, “I am so proud of you honey!!” Musician Gayle wrote “I’m so so sorry for all the bullshit you’ve been through ily sm and you’re amazing.”
Hayley Kiyoko added, “So proud of you thank you for this we love you!!!”

Dylan Mulvaney recently called out Bud Light,

Video

Tinder Wants to be Known for Love, Not as the Hook Up App

Melissa Hobley knows that Tinder is “seen as the hookup app,” but she revealed at the Variety Studio, presented by Canva, at Cannes Lions that the brand is taking a different approach. The app is re-centering marketing on “the storytelling of love in Tinder.”

“This is going to sound very controversial,” said the brand’s chief marketing officer. “We’re talking about love at Tinder now — the brand has never really done that.”

Hobley revealed that 40% of Tinder users are in search of a “serious” connection, a market her team is currently tapping into by showcasing success stories of real people who have used the app. “We want to affirm who you are and what kind of connection you’re looking for,” she said.

“The best part of my job is getting wedding invitations and baby announcements,” Hobley continued. “We’re using creators and influencers to tell those stories. That’s how we think of it: Showing up where Gen Z is sharing those stories of love. Be it queer love, a young couple, an old couple, a couple in Europe, a couple in Tokyo, or a couple in New York, that’s how we think about storytelling today.”

Hobley attributes the needs of Gen Z to the new creative scope of Tinder’s marketing efforts. “Gen Z gets my creative juices flowing,” she said. “What are they watching? What’s happening tomorrow? Who are they following? How are they showing their sexuality? I think it’s such an interesting time with cultural relevancy, we’ll never be done on that part.”

She also divulged that artificial intelligence may be able to influence the scope of the app moving forward. “There’s areas where it’s obvious that we would not jump into with AI — chemistry,” she said.

“One of the insights at Tinder is that people have a really hard time writing their bio. [What if] you start to share a few things and AI can spit out a profile bio for you in 10 seconds? Imagine if AI could help you find photos to put in your profile.”

Melissa Hobley knows that Tinder is “seen

Entertaintment

Karlovy Vary Film Festival Interview With Artistic Director Karel Och – The Hollywood Reporter

With Europe gearing up for the start of the official summer holiday season, cineasts, casual film fans, industry insiders and stars alike are once again getting ready to descend on the Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary.

After all, whether they are from the Czech Republic, Hollywood or elsewhere, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has positioned itself as one of the summer destinations showcasing new film gems from Central Europe and beyond, as well as the best of the film festival circuit of the past year.

Karel Och, who has been the artistic director of the festival since 2010 and is heading into his 23rd edition working on and for the event, has been particularly busy this year, with his team picking through a larger-than-usual number of submissions.

In an interview with THR’s global business editor Georg Szalai, Och explained this wave of movies, discussed selection criteria and rules, ensuring a programming lineup offering variety and diversity, why Karlovy Vary is a great place to visit and see movies, and how his team ensures to properly put the spotlight on and treat stars making the trip to the big Czech fest.

Karlovy Vary is one of the oldest film festivals but has really earned a reputation and successfully carved out a unique space for itself since the Fall of Communism. You have worked for the festival for more than two decades. How do you see its development and how key is Karlovy Vary’s focus on bringing audiences both highlights of past festivals and putting the spotlight on new films, especially from Central Europe?

It’s my 23rd festival. I have worked here since 2001 when I entered this building for the first time, the brutalist building of the Hotel Thermal, which was built for the festival. From the bird’s eye view, it has the shape of a movie camera, so it’s very particular.
The festival was born in 1946. During the Communist times, there were some important discoveries, especially from the so-called “Third World” countries, but overall, you could not really talk about freedom of speech, and everything was controlled obviously. So, in the early 1990s, what we witnessed was a second birth of the festival.
Shortly after the Fall of Communism, there weren’t many opportunities for Czech people and people from the ex-Eastern bloc to follow especially arthouse cinema from all around the world. So the festival became the field where people could just go and watch all the great stuff from all around the world: Venice, Cannes, Berlin, other festivals etc.
At the same time, the festival started to be more and more important, and new films were coming in, not just local and regional films, but also from other continents. And that ambition grew. And now we have two competitions, packed with world premieres from around the world. But at the same time, we still consider it important to keep explaining this ambiguity of the festival. I think we are the only one from this category of festivals, similar to San Sebastian, Rotterdam or Locarno, which is screening so many films from other festivals or films, which have enjoyed a premiere somewhere else already. We have about 50 to 60 films like that.

And you are happy with that mix…

We want to keep this referential element of the festival where people just go to a cinema and they just want to see a good movie regardless (of where it has or has not screened before). But of course, the ambition is to attract as much of the industry which we have been quite successful at, especially in the last 10-15 years. That ambition is even stronger. So we are trying to combine these two important aspects of the festival.

Your Proxima competition made its debut last year and aims to be a space for bold works by young filmmakers and renowned auteurs alike. It replaced the East of the West competition, which was established in the 1990s with the goal of helping filmmakers from the former Eastern Bloc. You said in the past that your goal was to open the window to submissions from around the world. This year, for example, Proxima features 10 world and two international premieres, with nine fiction features and three documentaries from the likes of Swiss auteur Thomas Imbach, French director Émilie Brisavoine, Poland’s Olga Chajdas, Cyprus-born Kyros Papavassiliou, and Romanian documentary maker Alexandru Solomon, among others. Can you explain why bringing more voices from around the world to Karlovy Vary is such a key goal?

We have always tried to cover as much from around the world as possible. And of course, there is a certain country or certain continent being represented stronger one year than another. It’s fluid. One of the most important milestones of the last decade for the festival was the fact that we decided to change the second competition, formerly known as East of the West. That was born as a tool to support Central, Eastern European, post-Soviet, Balkan countries in the moment of transformation, which was not just institutional or political, but also social. And when it comes to mentality, we felt our task or mission was completed, and it was time to move on. Also, the filmmakers from our area kind of challenged us that they wanted to compete on a global level, not just in the main competition, but both. So by redefining the second competition to Proxima and opening it to the entire world, we offered basically more space for premiering movies. This year, we can already see the difference in the depth of the submissions.

Tell me more about how submissions have developed since the end of the COVID pandemic.

We usually receive about 1,600 submissions. This year, we received 400 more submissions compared to last year, which is a lot if you consider not just watching the films, but also the related agenda, the emails and stuff like that. I spoke with colleagues from other festivals. It’s similar. They also received a higher number of submissions. When it comes to Karlovy Vary, I think it’s a combination of this global aspect of finishing the films after the pandemic, things are kind of normalizing in the good sense of the word. And also we have the redefined Proxima competition.

Does the Karlovy Vary festival have any programming policies or rules, whether it is about screening or not screening streaming films or showing movies from Russia due to the war in Ukraine. What kind of selection or other policies does your team have?

The only policy is that we try to have as few restrictions as possible while respecting obviously the rules of (international film festival regulator) FIAPF. There are certain elemental rules, one of them being that it must be at least the international premiere for a film in the main competition. This might be a little controversial, because you are putting limits on the intention of the movies and on the kind of movies. But at the same time, when we talk with the filmmakers, they say “keep these rules because it means that you guys will have to go and proactively search for new films.” So that is something that we understand. We have most of the films in competitions as world premieres. But if there is a movie that comes to us from a country, which has a local festival right before Karlovy Vary, and we still have the international premiere, then we are okay with that. So in the case of a German film, we often share it with the Munich Film Festival, which takes place shortly before us. So it’s something that we can discuss.
We used to do this with Sochi for Russian films, but obviously, the situation has changed because of the political situation. We have a film from Sundance in the competition this year, Fremont, that had its world premiere in the Next section in Sundance. So, we take it easy. We try not to blackmail the teams of the films with limitations.
Then, of course, there are other restrictions. This year, obviously, we would never screen a Russian film, which was made with financial support from the state of Russia. These are the rules which come with the necessity to react to what’s going on in society and politics.

How do you think about the importance of the theatrical cinema experience versus streaming?

It’s hugely important. It’s kind of part of the DNA of the festival. We obviously follow trends, and we opened our own VOD platform last year, called KVIFF.TV. But it’s not because we are extremely passionate about VOD. We understand its importance, we adopted the whole ecosystem of VOD, but it’s a little bit in order to control it. We understand nowadays that what we want to do is to combine the cinema experience with VOD in terms of reaching certain people who are unfortunately not able to watch movies in a cinema. But they can support each other. It doesn’t have to be either-or, or opponents. One can nurture the other. So we do a lot of things combining the festival and the platform. We even acquire films for these two platforms. But it will always remain very important for us to foster the cinema experience – in all generations, and not just with the fans of Karlovy Vary, which have been with us for decades, but also for youngsters.

Tell me a bit more about your offers for younger audiences and families...
We have several programs of short films for kids in the cinema. This year, we are celebrating 100 years of the Walt Disney studio by screening the very first Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937 in a cinema which is a chance for people especially from Karlovy Vary to bring their kids and to let them know that there is also a screen which is bigger than the TV in the living room.

Your lineup includes some films that are serious and thought-provoking, but there are also some more outlandish-sounding movies, including in the Midnight Screenings, such as Captain Faggotron Saves the Universe. How do you balance the serious, the fun and maybe even the wacky?

It’s instinctive. What we want to do is to show the whole variety of the aesthetics and of the genres. We know that you can get excited from a Bruce Lee movie as much as from a Nuri Bilge Ceylan movie, and often it is the same people who get excited by both. And we are the same. So I work with my colleagues (to present a lineup that is) as diverse as possible. What we have always cared a lot about is that every single movie in the program has a certain purpose that filmgoers and festival visitors should understand.

How do you mix getting something interesting for the Czech audiences, as well as international film industry visitors? Does that ever cause challenges or create conflicts?

I would lie if I said that it’s always been easy to combine the cosmopolitan and local aspects of the taste, or of what we try to communicate as the taste or as our message. But somehow throughout the years, through communication with the audience, we have succeeded to make the audience understand the cosmopolitan aspect of the local, or vice versa. Local doesn’t have to be kind of exclusive, but it can be understood as enriching, or exotic in a good sense, or particular, interesting and diverse. Whatever is diverse should be interesting for people. Often, I feel the answer here isn’t as sophisticated as the question, because we do things with instinct, with passion, without always thinking strategically, but I’m glad it works.

Let me ask you about the international stars you have coming to Karlovy Vary for the festival every year. This year, the fest is welcoming and honoring Alicia Vikander, Robin Wright, Ewan McGregor, and Russell Crowe, plus it is paying homage to legendary indie film producer Christine Vachon. How do you pick who gets lifetime honors each year, and how important is it to the Karlovy Vary festival that you fete them not just as film stars, but creatives in a more comprehensive sense?

There’s a world inhabited by the people that we admire. Artists are actors, actresses, filmmakers, but also directors of photography, music composers – everybody who contributes to making a movie, which is what we live for. So if you live for movies, inevitably, you want to celebrate those who make your life more interesting by making movies. Fortunately for us, among these people who make our lives more interesting are many that combine the celebrity aspect, if I simplify, with intelligence, and we admire them for that. We admire them for things that they do as part of, and apart from, their main occupation. So we had John Malkovich introducing his fashion line a few years ago at a fashion show. This year, we have Russell Crowe performing with a band, the same as we had Tim Robbins a few years ago. Often, we screen directorial efforts by actors.
So there is this group of people that we admire, and we are in communication with their agents, managers, publicists, and they know about us. Often they are not available because they are working in the summer. But once they get available, they like to come because they know they will be taken care of, there’s a good audience that expresses how they feel about them, and it’s relaxing. We understand that they are working a lot. And to come to a film festival, if it’s not for a new movie’s premiere, which often is a work commitment, we are taking away a bit of their free time. So we want them to feel that they did not lose the value of the free time they have in between work, so we try to make it as nice as possible for them.

In addition to the concert by Russell Crowe, you also have Morcheeba performing on Friday, the opening evening. How key a part is music of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival?

Music is an element that is present because we have crowds of young people. We don’t put music on the level of films here. But every now and then, like this year, the musical sidebar becomes a reason for many people to come. If you go for music, and then you smell a bit of cinema, we might get some new fans. This brings me to the most important musical moment of the festival every year. In 2015, when we celebrated the 50th edition of the festival, we decided to do something new. We said, okay, let’s cancel the opening party in the Grandhotel Pupp, the posh, beautiful party, and let’s stay in the streets with the people. So we have, as the real center of the festival, the Hotel Thermal, the brutalist building that I mentioned before. There is a space outside which can fit 20,000 to 30,000 people if you count the whole triangle, and we included a big concert there. In the first year, it was a local rock band, and there were 40,000 people. It’s for the people, it’s free. it’s a gift of the festival to the people. We often have the Philharmonic Orchestras playing music for Milos Forman movies or James Bond, whatnot, different kinds of musical performances. This year, it will be more complex, because we first have Morcheeba, then we screen the opening movie, and then we have the Russell Crowe band. So it will be a long and I hope satisfying evening.

Speaking of satisfying: do you have any recommendations for something I should try to do while in Karlovy Vary outside of catching films and music?

This question brings me to a crucial aspect of every film festival. One of the most crucial aspects is the location. We are lucky to be in a relatively small city that is condensed. It is an old spa city, so it has a very interesting charm. Everything takes place between the Thermal Hotel and Grandhotel Pupp, two icons of the architecture of different eras that you walk in between. And every year there are lots of new different things, like a prosecco place, or a new cafeteria, which life of a filmgoer easier, because it’s all walkable. Unless you want to enjoy our festival bicycle system, which allows you to rent a bike without paying anything if you return it within three hours, and it’s connecting the cinemas, etc. If you have a few free hours, you should do a little hike, because we are in the valley, and it’s very beautiful. You can reach, in 10 minutes, these little hills, which you can walk around and relax after an exhausting, depressing movie before going to see Captain Faggotron at midnight. So you can digest your film experience by walking around.

With Europe gearing up for the start

Movies

TV Shows To Watch If You Liked “Black Mirror”

TV Shows To Watch If You Liked

Madonna ‘still suffering severe symptoms from illness' despite being released from hospital

Madonna ‘still suffering severe symptoms from illness'

MCU

‘Secret Invasion’: Samuel L. Jackson Talks Nick Fury Stepping Out of the Shadows

Who’s the biggest champion for a Nick Fury solo project? Star Samuel L. Jackson himself.

Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion dives deeper into Fury’s past — and future — as he races against the clock to stop the (currently in progress) Skrull Invasion. Who can you trust? Whose side are you on? And why, after appearing across so many Marvel Cinematic Universe titles, was now finally the time for a Nick Fury series?

“I’ve been having conversations about a Nick Fury series for a long time. People asking, well when’s the Nick Fury movie? You know everybody else has a movie, when’s the Nick Fury movie?” Jackson explains with a chuckle. And for every time he watched the events of the MCU unfold without him, he found himself asking if, when, and how soon he could get back in on the action.

“I ask questions like, can I go to Wakanda? And they’re like, no,” He laughs. That’s because there was always a much bigger plan for unraveling the hidden, long-kept secrets about the agent. The last time viewers saw Fury he was yelling about his shoes on the S.A.B.E.R. space station, enjoying a seascape on his “vacation.” Don’t forget, he was only there because he had tasked Skrull Talos to take care of things (masquerading as Fury) back on Earth — a decision that might come back to haunt him.

When plotting out the series, Jackson explains, “We talked about what effect the Blip had on Nick Fury and why he was on S.A.B.E.R. for so long, and what was happening down here on Earth in terms of, you know, Talos pretending to be Nick Fury. Why? We reach a point where we sort of explain why Nick comes back and what’s been going on. Stuff has happened and there’s been time that passed and this [what’s happened to this] state of Nick Fury.”

While Fury has been a staple since the very first installment of the MCU — appearing out of the shadows to tease a “bigger universe” to Tony Stark — there hasn’t been much time spent diving into exactly who he is (aside from the fact that if toast is cut diagonally, he can’t eat it). Secret Invasion is going to peel back some of those layers on the super spy revealing long-hidden character traits for him.

“I think it’s great to go behind the curtain of Nick Fury’s life and see some things or make some discoveries that nobody’s known about him, or what’s going on in his life,” Jackson continues.

As viewers learn in episode 1 of Secret Invasion, Fury really has been MIA for a while now, by choice, much to the displeasure of those closest to him. And when he does come back down to Earth, he’s not the same Fury we’ve come to know over the years. Once back on solid ground, Jackson explains that Fury is “older, he’s tired, and he’s not sure of his footing anymore.”

“The times have changed,” Jackson continues. “The Super Heroes are gone and they’re doing whatever it is they’re doing so there’s no real Avengers for him to come down here or he’s not trying to call on them he’s not been in touch with anybody. He’s been incognito and up there on S.A.B.E.R., so it’s been a long time since he’s been in touch with people. He’s ghosted a lot of people and they call him; he doesn’t call them so he’s not coming back down here super willingly.”

Jackson also knows that since Fury’s does not answer any distress calls, he can’t expect the same from any other Super Heroes.

“We’ve got to reach a point where we don’t expect these guys to come and save us every time something goes wrong. This is one of those times, so it’s that kind of series where we try and solve things without being too superhuman but use the espionage angle as well as we can.”

And now, he’s been thrust back into the fight, right alongside his old friend, Talos. For Jackson, it’s exciting to step back into Fury’s world and get his hands dirty once again — though viewers should be prepared for anything.

“Even the Nick Fury that’s not, you know, that dynamic and forceful Nick Fury [previously seen]. I come to work and laugh about the seriousness of what we’re doing, and say, ‘how serious do we want to be’ and go ahead and do that, or you know how Fury’s a smartass so there’s always sarcasm to be thrown in somewhere… I’ve been a part of 13 of these things, I know who Nick Fury is and what I want to do.”

No backup. Just Fury. Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+.

Who’s the biggest champion for a Nick

DCU

DC Cancelled Gal Gadot’s Major Wonder Woman Future Plans

Gal Gadot’s future as Wonder Woman came to a screeching halt thanks to Warner Bros.’ new plans for the greater DC Universe.

First cast as Diana Prince nearly a decade ago for the DC Extended Universe, Gadot became a fan-favorite playing the Amazon warrior, debuting in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice under Zack Snyder before moving into further projects.

Leading the way in 2017’s Wonder Woman and 2020’s Wonder Woman 1984 while filming both versions of Justice League and a couple of other cameo appearances, Gadot’s place as a DC superhero is cemented in comic-book-movie history.

The Flash’s Original Ending

A new article from The Hollywood Reporter explained how The Flash‘s ending changed multiple times before the film debuted in theaters.

Instead of Ezra Miller’s Flash meeting up with Batman, played this time by George Clooney, he would have been met by Sasha Calle’s Supergirl, Henry Cavill’s Superman, and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman.

This would have set up Cavill for a new solo Superman movie after his cameo in Black Adam, with the hope that Calle would also return as Supergirl down the road even after she met her end fighting Michael Shannon’s General Zod.

For Gadot, it would have set her up for new stories of her own after making a short cameo appearance earlier in the movie alongside Ben Affleck’s DCEU Batman.

Former Plans for Wonder Woman 3

This also comes as the studio developed plans for Wonder Woman 3, with both Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins set to return. The ending to The Flash was shot in September with Miller, Cavill, Gadot, Calle, and Michael Keaton (Batman), with Gadot being set up to conclude her Wonder Woman threequel after that.

In December 2022, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Wonder Woman 3 was “not moving forward,” even going so far as to say it was “considered dead in its current incarnation.”

This also came with rumors that Patty Jenkins had a number of arguments with Warner Bros. over the direction for this third movie, reportedly even going so far as to say the studio didn’t understand the character or her arc.

However, Jenkins set the record straight with an extensive online post, clarifying the process for her work on both Wonder Woman 3 and Star Wars’ Rogue Squadron as she looked ahead to her future.

Calling her experience with Wonder Woman “a beautiful journey,” Jenkins admitted that she was “honored to be the person” that brought the heroine to this theatrical format:

“I do not want what has been a beautiful journey with ‘WW’ to land on negative note. I have loved and been so honored to be the person who got to make these last two ‘Wonder Woman’ films. She is an incredible character. Living in and around her values makes one a better person every day. I wish her and her legacy an amazing future ahead, with or without me.”

Potential DC Crossover Events

The Hollywood Reporter also revealed in December that there was a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie in the early stages of development, which could have served as something akin to a Justice League sequel.

Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman would have played a prominent role in that movie, with Warner Bros. leaders Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy reportedly looking at one more attempt at a SnyderVerse-style story:

“In fact, the current leadership team at Warner Bros Pictures — Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy — did desire one more go-around of the SnyderVerse heroes, possibly even having another Justice League movie with those actors.”

Scooper KC Walsh also noted in March 2022 that Warner Bros. had a Crisis on Infinite Earths event planned for the DC Extended Universe, although it was already at least three years away from development before the management changeover.

When Will Wonder Woman Return to the DCU?

While Gal Gadot has hinted that she may be in line for a DC comeback, it seems that Wonder Woman’s return to the DCU may be some time away.

Currently, there is a Max show entitled Paradise Lost planned out for the Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters slate, giving a look into Themyscira’s inner workings long before Diana Prince’s birth.

But with reports hinting that Gadot’s time in the DC Universe potentially isn’t over, many will have their eyes on DC Studios as they continue to look for more ways to incorporate Wonder Woman into the larger story.

All of Gal Gadot’s appearances as Wonder Woman are available to stream on Max.

Comics

Diablo 4’s Latest Patch Has Made It Even Harder To Find The Secret Cow Level

Thanks to the latest patch, players have yet another roadblock in the quest to find the secret cow level in Diablo 4.

Thanks to PCGamer, we know that the 1.0.3 patch removed a quest called “The Oxen Gods,” where players had to turn in a series of items that would give them access to a hidden room. This was considered a vital puzzle piece to a group called Not Finding A Cow Level Discord. As the name suggests, it’s a Discord server dedicated to discovering whether the cow level is real.

Since removing this quest, a good chunk of Discord has started to look at older Diablo games and even World of Warcraft to see if there are any clues within the game’s lore. But as of now, no one has found anything that could provide answers.

For those unaware, the cow level has become a running joke within the Diablo community. Since Diablo 2, there’s been a hidden level called “The Secret Cow Level,” and in it, players have to fight a Hell Bovine. Leading up to the launch of Diablo 4, the dev team stated that there wouldn’t be a hidden cow level at launch leaving the possibility of finding one somewhere down the road.

For more Diablo 4 news, check out our story on how the latest update increases endgame XP rewards and how an item was so rare that Blizzard had to confirm it was real.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Festivals

The Hollyland Lark Max—a Documentary Filmmakers’ Dream Tool?

Content creators and documentary filmmakers can forgo capturing beautiful imagery if one thing remains true—you still capture pristine audio.

Great sound is essential for conveying your stories, and it’s great to see a versatile amount of options on the market right now.

While Hollyland began making wireless video and focus tools, it has recently stepped into the audio game with the LARK series, which includes the Hollyland LARK M1. Now, the company has unveiled a new product—the Hollyland LARK MAX, an all-in-one wireless Lavalier microphone system with a heavier feature set than previous generations.

But is it the upgrade content creators and documentary filmmakers have been needing? Let’s dive into the updated feature set.

The Hollyland LARK MAX

The one thing that makes the LARK MAX stand out from previous options in the line is the MaxTimbre Mic technology. This aims to give creatives studio-quality audio in a small package.

Consisting of a multilayer membrane microphone design, the MaxTimbre claims to optimize voice recording. Unwanted resonances are effectively eliminated, while wind-proof and vibration-isolation features further enhance performance. With a high-sensitivity omnidirectional microphone recording at a 48kHz/24-bit sampling rate, the LARK MAX seems to jump onto the audio scene on the right foot.

Two transmitter with mics and one receiver. Credit: Hollyland

The unit also incorporates advanced Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC) technology, which allows the system to detect and minimize surrounding noise, giving filmmakers distortion-free audio, even in loud recording environments.

This would be great for capturing interviews, vlogs, podcasts, or whatever trouble documentary filmmakers find themselves in these days.

The LARK MAX also employs Digital Signal Processing (DSP), which is said to significantly enhance audio signal quality while reducing unwanted noise and interference.

Not Just a Mic

But the LARK MAX isn’t just a regular wireless Lavalier microphone system. It also incorporates convenient backup recording capabilities, with 8GB of built-in memory in the transmitter that can record up to 14 hours of uncompressed and lossless WAV files. Additionally, the LARK MAX provides a claimed 22-hour battery life when used with its compact charging case. If you’re out on assignment and don’t have access to a charging port, having this type of longevity in your audio tools is a nice touch.

Hollyland LARK MAX Mobile — Get real-time audio playback on your phone speaker. Credit: Hollyland

With its 3.5 mm output interface, the LARK MAX also offers compatibility with various camera types, including DSLR cameras, mirrorless cameras, action cameras, and camcorders. Connecting the receiver to your camera only requires a 3.5 mm TRS to 3.5 mm TRS cable. You can find the complete compatibility list here.

Furthermore, the LARK MAX offers multiple recording modes, including mono, stereo, and safety track options, which are great for recording security and flexibility during post-production.

Is This Audio Tool For You?

If we take what’s written on the tin at face value, the Hollyland LARK MAX is a solid addition to any content creator or documentary filmmaker who needs great audio quality. It has a robust feature set and redundancies that will support long-term or spur-of-the-moment projects.

However, much like the LARK M1, the design is very front and center. It doesn’t really have the same stealthy aesthetics as traditional LAV mics. If that’s something you don’t mind, or you can work around it, then the LARK MAX might be something to consider for your next project.

But what do you think? Is this a tool you want in your kit? Let us know in the comments!

Content creators and documentary filmmakers can

Film

Witchfire: Fantasy Roguelite Shooter Confirmed for September Release

Witchfire: Dark Fantasy Roguelite Shooter Confirmed for September Release in New Gameplay Trailer

The Astronauts, the independent game studio behind renowned titles such as Painkiller and Bulletstorm, has unveiled a thrilling new gameplay trailer for their highly anticipated roguelite shooter, Witchfire. Set in a grimdark fantasy world where a deadly war rages between powerful witches and the Church, Witchfire offers players an ungodly arsenal of guns and forbidden magic as they combat dark terrors. The game is scheduled to launch into Early Access on September 20, 2023, exclusively for Windows players through the Epic Games Store.

For privacy reasons YouTube needs your permission to be loaded. For more details, please see our Privacy Policy.

I Accept

Immerse Yourself in a Grimdark Fantasy World

Witchfire takes players into an alternate reality where witches are real and dangerous adversaries. As a witch hunter, known as a preyer, armed with an array of weapons and Vatican sorcery, players must navigate a treacherous landscape and confront terrifying creatures. The Astronauts‘ Creative Director and Co-Founder, Adrian Chmielarz, emphasized the importance of creating a captivating world, stating, “Even though Witchfire is obviously a shooter first, we invest a lot in its world and lore.”

Polished Gameplay Experience with an Enthralling Story

While Witchfire offers extensive lore and backstory, the team’s primary focus for the Early Access launch is to deliver a polished and atmospheric gameplay experience. Additional story features will be added as the game approaches full release. Players intrigued by the Witchfire lore can delve deeper into the world through Adrian Chmielarz’s short story, “The Preyer.”

A Combination of Intensity and Strategic Thinking

Contrary to previous impressions, Witchfire is not simply a non-stop action fest. The gameplay trailer showcases intense combat sequences intertwined with periods of quiet exploration, planning, and strategic thinking. Chmielarz draws a comparison to the Souls series, emphasizing the importance of pacing and immersion in Witchfire‘s gameplay experience.

Impressive Graphics and Immersive World

Witchfire marks the second release from The Astronauts following their BAFTA award-winning title, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter. Despite having a small team of only ten developers, the game’s graphics rival those found in AAA titles. Powered by the Unreal Engine and utilizing advanced photogrammetry techniques, Witchfire presents players with a visually stunning and immersive dark fantasy world.

Get Ready for Witchfire’s Early Access Launch

Witchfire is set to captivate players when it launches into Early Access on September 20, 2023, exclusively on the Epic Games Store. Prepare to embark on a spellbinding journey through a world of witchcraft, intense battles, and strategic exploration. Stay tuned for the upcoming launch trailer, promising even more glimpses into the chilling atmosphere and captivating gameplay of Witchfire.

Witchfire: Dark Fantasy Roguelite Shooter Confirmed for

John Landis at the 2017 Venice Film Festival

Hollywood Is in a ‘Pathetic’ State, Blames Streamers – IndieWire

John Landis is looking for a Hollywood savior.

The legendary comedy director told Deadline during the Taormina Film Festival that the film industry is “in chaos” amid the WGA strike and lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on theaters.

“Do you know it’s the first time in Hollywood history that the Directors Guild, the Writers Guild, and the IA are all united?” Landis said. “The film industry is in chaos and I hope the audience comes back to the theaters.”

The Writers Guild is still on a work-halt order due to negotiations for fair wages. The Directors Guild reached a deal with the AMPTP to avoid a strike; however, SAG contract negotiations are still underway.

The “Trading Places” director continued, “The sentiment really is the sorrow for the pathetic state the business is in. You know, between streaming and the pandemic, it was like a stake through the heart. It really hurts the business and continues to do so. And there’s the strike now. The streamers really are the bad guys.”

Landis added that streaming platforms take away from the overall film experience.

“Motion pictures are meant to be seen in a large house, cinema, a big theater, on a big screen, with good sound and as many people as possible because it’s a communal experience,” the “Animal House” filmmaker said.

Due to the current WGA strike, “everything is in sort of limbo” with Landis’ personal upcoming projects despite him being “desperate to work.” Landis confirmed an upcoming Broadway show, plus two feature films and a TV series in the works.