Entertainment

A Decade After '13th,' DuVernay Closes New York Film Festival With '14th'

The director's new Netflix documentary, built on more than 50 interviews spanning the political spectrum, has its world premiere Friday at Alice Tully Hall as the festival's Closing Night selection.

Spotify and Joe Rogan Sign New Multiyear Deal, Extending Their Six-Year Partnership

The streaming giant and its most-followed podcaster renewed their licensing agreement for "The Joe Rogan Experience" on Thursday, a deal The Wall Street Journal valued at roughly $250 million, as Spotify leans further on podcasting to keep growing past 300 million paying subscribers.

Canadian Poet Anne Carson Wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature

The Swedish Academy honored the 76-year-old poet and classicist's "bold and inventive" body of work, which reshapes ancient literary forms for contemporary readers.

London Film Festival opens with 'Elsinore,' reviving a forgotten theater tragedy

The 70th BFI London Film Festival opened with the European premiere of "Elsinore," a dramatization of actor Ian Charleson's final, acclaimed performance as Hamlet while he was dying of AIDS — a film now drawing early Oscar speculation for its star, Andrew Scott.

National Book Foundation Names 2026 Finalists, With Rushdie Medal to Follow

The National Book Foundation named 25 finalists across five categories for the 77th National Book Awards on Tuesday, and confirmed Salman Rushdie will separately receive its lifetime-achievement medal at the November ceremony.

California awards tax credits to 35 films, from Ice Cube's 'Last Friday' to a 'Michael' sequel

The state's expanded production tax credit is projected to generate $1.08 billion in spending and nearly 30,000 jobs from this round alone, as California and Congress both weigh how far incentives should go to keep Hollywood productions from leaving.

Paramount Skydance Closes $111 Billion Takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Forming New Media Giant Skydance

After a year of courtroom battles, a dozen state lawsuits and a rival Netflix bid, David Ellison's company closed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Tuesday, uniting CBS, CNN, HBO Max and two of Hollywood's oldest studios under one roof.

Montana town suspends, then restores, filming permit for Daily Wire's ICE-themed movie

Livingston, Montana briefly halted street filming on "Pawn Shop," a Ben Shapiro-backed production starring Harvey Keitel and Danny Trejo, after residents said the shoot disrupted a food pantry and unsettled the town; commissioners restored the permit with new conditions while insisting the dispute was never about the film's politics.

R&B singer Freddie Jackson, voice behind 'You Are My Lady,' dies at 69

The Grammy-nominated singer, whose smooth tenor defined romantic R&B radio in the 1980s, died Monday night according to a family statement posted to his verified Instagram account. No cause of death has been disclosed.

Emmys leave broadcast TV for Prime Video after 31 years, in historic six-year deal

The Television Academy and Amazon's Prime Video struck a six-year global agreement that ends the Emmys' decades-old network rotation and takes the ceremony off broadcast TV for the first time since 1949.

At Robert Kraft's Own Stadium, Zach Bryan Wears a 'Free Palestine' Shirt and Breaks the Attendance Record

The country star's two sold-out Gillette Stadium shows, where he repeated the message that got Macklemore pulled from Ed Sheeran's tour weeks earlier, drew no apparent response from the venue's owner — and set a new attendance mark in the process.

Avengers: Endgame reclaims title of highest-grossing film, overtaking Avatar again

A September theatrical re-release tied to December's "Avengers: Doomsday" has pushed Marvel's 2019 blockbuster past "Avatar's" worldwide total for the second time since the two films began trading the all-time box-office record in 2019.

Stray Kids joins BTS in boycotting the Grammys over new 'Best Asian Pop' category

The K-pop group confirmed it did not submit music for the 69th Grammy Awards, following BTS in protesting a category artists say risks sidelining Asian acts from mainstream competition rather than elevating them.

Taylor Swift Makes Surprise Cameo in Dakota Johnson's 'SNL' Monologue

The pop star turned up unannounced during Johnson's third stint hosting "Saturday Night Live," extending a collaboration that began last month with Swift's self-directed "Patient Zero" video.

Jesse Eisenberg's exit from the Facebook sequel, explained by the men who made it anyway

Aaron Sorkin and Jeremy Strong gave competing but compatible accounts this week of why Eisenberg declined to reprise Mark Zuckerberg for "The Social Reckoning," Sorkin's companion piece to "The Social Network," which opens Oct. 9.

'Verity' debuts at No. 1, giving Colleen Hoover's film franchise its best weekend since 'It Ends With Us'

Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson's psychological thriller opened to an estimated $33.6 million, the second-best launch of any Colleen Hoover adaptation, while Warner Bros.' far costlier Tom Cruise vehicle "Digger" struggled to find an audience in the same weekend.

Tony Gilroy ends his 14-year gap behind the camera with a love letter to film composers

Pedro Pascal plays a touring cellist turned Hollywood session musician in "Behemoth!," which premiered at Alice Tully Hall as this year's NYFF centerpiece and assembled nine veteran film composers to score it.

Paramount Taps Mattel Chief Ynon Kreiz as Co-CEO, Sets October 6 Close for Warner Bros. Discovery Deal

Regulatory filings made October 1 and October 2 detail a $46.5 million pay package for the incoming co-CEO and confirm the merged company will rename itself Skydance Corporation and move to the NYSE.

Billy Crystal brings the house he lost to wildfire to Broadway in "860"

Previews began Thursday for Crystal's new solo show about the Pacific Palisades home he lost in the January 2025 wildfires, a 14-week run at the Imperial Theatre directed by Scott Ellis.

Tom Cruise's audacious 'Digger' opens to divided reviews and a tepid box-office outlook

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu's satire about a catastrophe-causing tycoon marks Cruise's first adult drama in over a decade, but early tracking points to a modest opening weekend for the $135 million Warner Bros. release.

Chris Hansen says he hasn't ruled out suing A24 over 'Primetime'

In his first interview since watching A24's hit dramatization of 'To Catch a Predator,' the broadcaster said his lawyers are 'itchy' to challenge the studio, while NBC issued a new statement defending the film.

Zoe Kazan revisits her grandfather's film with a new "East of Eden" on Netflix

Zoe Kazan's seven-episode adaptation of John Steinbeck's novel, led by Florence Pugh and streaming globally from October 1, reworks the story her grandfather Elia Kazan filmed in 1955 and restores a central character his version left out.

Venom frontman Conrad "Cronos" Lant, who helped invent black metal, dies at 63

Conrad "Cronos" Lant, the bassist and singer who fronted Venom for most of its 48-year history and whose band gave extreme metal's most notorious subgenre its name, has died at 63, the band said. No cause of death was given.

Woody Allen begins his 51st film in Madrid, backed by Spanish public money

The 90-year-old director, who has had no American studio distributor since 2019, appeared alongside Madrid's regional president Thursday as cast and funding were confirmed for an untitled comedy whose public financing requires the city's name in its title.

"You Can See Everything," filmed in secret over roughly three years starting just before Elizabeth Holmes reported to federal prison, premiered at the New York Film Festival on Tuesday, with A24 set to open it in theaters Oct. 16.

Disney's new premium-screen brand notches an early win as "Avengers" re-release tops the box office

More than half of ticket buyers for the re-released "Avengers: Endgame" chose Disney's untested Infinity Vision screens over standard showings, an early signal for a format the studio built after "Avengers: Doomsday" lost its IMAX slot to "Dune: Part Three."

Paramount Skydance sells $44 billion in bonds as Warner Bros. Discovery deal hits its deadline

Paramount Skydance opened a $44.4 billion bond sale this week to finish financing its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, just as Wednesday's contractual deadline arrived for a fee that starts accruing to sellers for every day the deal stays open.

Sabrina Carpenter and Margaret Qualley join Tom Holland's Fred Astaire biopic

Sony Pictures has set Sabrina Carpenter as Ginger Rogers and Margaret Qualley as Adele Astaire opposite Tom Holland in its long-gestating biopic of dancer Fred Astaire, directed by Paul King.

Dennis Haskins, TV's Principal Belding on 'Saved by the Bell,' Dies at 75

The actor who spent 15 years playing Principal Richard Belding across "Saved by the Bell" and its spinoff has died at 75, his agent confirmed Monday, drawing tributes from castmates and the Tennessee university where he later finished the theater degree he had set aside decades earlier.

Netflix becomes exclusive home of WWE programming in Japan, ending Abema's three-year run

Starting October 1, Raw, SmackDown, NXT and WWE's premium live events move to Netflix in Japan at no added cost, closing one of the last gaps in the streamer's push to become the wrestling promotion's global home.

A24's 'Primetime' scores third-biggest opening in studio history as the real Chris Hansen disputes his portrayal

Robert Pattinson's turn as "To Catch a Predator" host Chris Hansen drove a $19.2 million opening weekend for A24, even as the real Hansen calls the film "detached from reality" and gives Pattinson's performance a "D."

Cregger's "Resident Evil" Reboot Becomes First in Franchise to Cross $100 Million Domestically

Zach Cregger's R-rated reboot of Capcom's zombie-outbreak franchise topped $100 million domestically in ten days and $196.5 million worldwide, a stronger and longer-legged run than any of the seven prior "Resident Evil" films managed.

AEW star PAC, wrestling's 'Man That Gravity Forgot,' dies at 40 after final match

Benjamin Satterley, who competed worldwide as PAC and, in WWE, as Neville, died less than 48 hours after his last match at AEW's All Out pay-per-view, prompting tributes from across the wrestling industry.

Avengers: Endgame Encore Retakes No. 1 at the Box Office, Building the Bridge to Doomsday

Disney's re-release of the 2019 blockbuster returned to the top of the North American box office with $86 million worldwide, using new footage and a first-of-its-kind theater certification program to set up December's Avengers: Doomsday.

Olivia Rodrigo opens 86-date 'Unraveled' tour with rain, a dissolving dress and a birthday song for her mom

The pop star's global arena run began Friday in Hartford with a six-act, no-encore set built around 'The Cure' and a surprise tribute to her mother, while her third album keeps generating chart records months after its debut.

Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' Becomes the Longest-Running No. 1 Song in Billboard Hot 100 History

The 23-year-old country singer's crossover hit notches a 23rd week atop the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing Mariah Carey's holiday classic to set the longest reign in the chart's 68-year history.

Madonna Opens MTV VMAs for a Record Fifth Time as Nirvana Receives Video Vanguard Honor

Leading all nominees with a career-high 13 nods, Madonna returns to the VMA stage for the first time in 23 years at a ceremony relocated to Los Angeles, where Snoop Dogg hosts and Nirvana and Taylor Swift receive newly minted legacy honors.

Ed Sheeran's Gillette Stadium Shows Canceled by Storm After Weeks of Macklemore Fallout

A nor'easter shut down the final Massachusetts dates of Ed Sheeran's already-strained tour, days after Robert Kraft barred Macklemore over pro-Palestinian remarks and a state inquiry forced Ticketmaster to offer refunds. Macklemore has since announced a benefit tour of his own.

Saturday Night Live Opens Season 52 With Jalen Brunson Hosting

The Knicks guard headlines the show's premiere alongside musical guest Katseye, as two new featured players join a reshaped cast.

A24 and The New York Times Emerge as Bidders for Letterboxd in Sale Valued Above $300 Million

The film-logging platform, majority-owned by the holding company Tiny since 2023, has drawn a widening field of suitors including Sony, Netflix and Paramount as its user base climbs past 29 million.

64th New York Film Festival Opens With James Gray's 'Paper Tiger,' Starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson

James Gray's Brooklyn-and-Queens crime drama, greeted with a 10-minute ovation at Cannes in May, opened Lincoln Center's 17-day festival on 35mm as distributor Neon builds an Oscar campaign around it.

Marina Vlady, Cannes Best Actress and Godard Muse, Dies at 88

The French screen icon, who won Cannes' top acting prize in 1963 and later chronicled her decade-long marriage to Soviet balladeer Vladimir Vysotsky, died at home on Thursday, her family told AFP.

A24 film revisiting 'To Catch a Predator' opens as Chris Hansen disputes his own portrayal

Robert Pattinson stars as Chris Hansen in "Primetime," a dramatization of the "To Catch a Predator" sting operations that opened nationwide Friday. Hansen says the film distorts who he is; its story returns to the 2006 case that ended the original series.

Taylor Swift Teases Self-Directed 'Patient Zero' Video With Dakota Johnson, Colin Farrell Ahead of VMA Honor

A 13-second preview aired exclusively on CBS Mornings ahead of Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, where Swift will also become the show's most-awarded artist in history with a newly created directing honor.

Harvey Weinstein Sentenced to 15 Years in New York Retrial

A Manhattan judge imposed the sentence for the 2006 assault of former "Project Runway" assistant Miriam Haley, closing out the New York case that began the reckoning which became the #MeToo movement.

Thai teen rocker Nene Royal becomes first Thai winner of 'America's Got Talent'

Sixteen-year-old Phuket guitarist Rattikarn Amloy, known as Nene Royal, won the $1 million prize on 'America's Got Talent' Season 21, prompting an official congratulatory statement from Thailand's government within hours of the result.

Two Past Winners, One Debut Novelist Make the Cut for 2026 Booker Prize

Judges narrowed a field of 163 submitted novels to six finalists on Tuesday, pitting former winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart against a science-fiction veteran and a first-time novelist, with the £50,000 prize to be awarded in November.

Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' Breaks All-Time Billboard No. 1 Record, Passing Mariah Carey

The country ballad's 23rd week atop the Hot 100 makes it the longest-running No. 1 single in the chart's 68-year history, surpassing Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas Is You.'

Greenville County officials say fentanyl and four other drugs contributed to the actress's death last month, weeks after she left a rehabilitation program.

Naomi Watts uses San Sebastián honor to challenge Hollywood's verdict on aging actresses

Accepting the San Sebastián Film Festival's Donostia Award, the 57-year-old actress recalled being told her career would end at 40 — then pointed to this year's Emmy winners as proof the industry has moved on, as her Holocaust drama "The Housewife" heads toward a second honor in Zurich.

New Found Glory Guitarist Chad Gilbert Dies at 45 After Five-Year Cancer Battle

The founding guitarist of New Found Glory, who kept writing and recording through years of cancer treatment, died September 20 with his wife and mother at his side, the band said, closing out a three-decade run in one of pop-punk's defining bands.

Santa Monica police are investigating the death of Presley Gerber, who had spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction and mental health, as a suspected overdose.

Netflix wins Toronto's top audience prize for the first time with queer Spanish epic "La Bola Negra"

The Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi film, inspired by an unfinished work by Federico García Lorca, becomes the first Netflix production to take the Toronto film festival's top prize, a longtime forecaster of the Academy Awards' best-picture race.

Eugenio Zanetti, Oscar-winning production designer of 'Restoration,' dies at 79

The Argentine-born designer, who won the Academy Award for art direction in 1996 and later built sets for "What Dreams May Come" and "Last Action Hero," died suddenly in Buenos Aires while preparing an opera he had designed for the city's Teatro Colón.

Ella Langley's 'Choosin' Texas' ties Mariah Carey's all-time Hot 100 record

The Alabama singer's breakup ballad has spent a 22nd non-consecutive week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, matching "All I Want for Christmas Is You" for the longest reign in the chart's history.

FCC clears Gulf sovereign funds to hold nearly half of Paramount Skydance

The FCC's Media Bureau waived its foreign-ownership cap to let sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi hold nearly half of Paramount Skydance's equity, clearing a hurdle in its pending Warner Bros. Discovery takeover even as a separate antitrust fight keeps the $110 billion deal frozen.