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A scripted series about legendary rock band U2 is in early development at Netflix, Variety has confirmed with sources.

J.J. Abrams is attached to executive produce the project under his Bad Robot banner, with “Bohemian Rhapsody” writer Anthony McCarten onboard to write the script. Warner Bros. Television, where Bad Robot is currently under an expansive overall deal, will produce. It is unclear at this time exactly how involved U2 would be in the project.

Exact plot details for the show are currently under wraps, but given McCarten’s involvement it seems logical to assume that the show would delve into the history of the band.

The Batman has had the box office largely to itself in its first two weeks, and it will rule the roost again in its third week, likely to yet again be the only film to even cross $10 million. While the pitch black superhero reboot faces no competitors gunning for the top spot for another week, the rest of the top ten should be shaken up this weekend with a slew of small-ish newcomers entering into the arena. Horror audiences have multiple options with the wide releases X and Umma, and the limited releases The Outfit and Alice both have some buzz.

While The Batman’s $134 million opening was the fourth best in the series, its strong hold gave it the second best second weekend in the series with $66.5 million, behind only TDRK’s $75 million. Though its post second weekend total is still behind those films, another strong hold could put

Peter Bowles, the British star of shows including “To The Manor Born” and “Rumpole of the Bailey,” has died. He was 85.

Bowles died from cancer, according to his agency Gavin Barker Associates.

The agency said in a statement: “The actor Peter Bowles has sadly passed away at the age of 85 from cancer. Starting his career at the Old Vice Theatre in 1956, he starred in 45 theatrical productions ending at the age of 81 in ‘The Exorcist’ at the Phoenix Theatre. He worked consistently on stage and screen, becoming a household name on TV as the archetypal English gent in ‘To The Manor Born,’ ‘Only When I Laugh,’ ‘The Bounder’ and ‘Lytton’s Diary,’ which he devised himself. He leaves his wife of over 60 years, Sue, and their three children Guy, Adam and Sash.”

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Bowles was best known for his

Amazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM, the companies said Thursday.

The pact was first announced in May and has been winding its way through the regulatory process. Per Amazon, “The storied, nearly century-old studio—with more than 4,000 film titles, 17,000 TV episodes, 180 Academy Awards, and 100 Emmy Awards—will complement Prime Video and Amazon Studios’ work in delivering a diverse offering of entertainment choices to customers.”

The completion of the transaction comes two days after the Amazon-mgm deal received clearance from the European Union’s antitrust regulator, which “unconditionally” approved Amazon’s proposed acquisition of MGM, in part because “MGM’s content cannot be considered as must-have.” The European Commission, in its antitrust review, found that the overlaps between the Amazon and MGM businesses are “limited.”

At that time, the deal was still pending approval by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which had been given a mid-March deadline by

Start recalibrating the brightness settings on your TV now, because The Batman will be swooping onto HBO Max perhaps sooner than you think.

As noticed by fans and reported on by sites such as Deadline, a “glitch” on an HBO website accidently, briefly, and apparently accurately revealed that the Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz-starring The Batman will make its HBO Max premiere on Tuesday, April 19, then hit HBO proper a few days later.

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Thursday night’s Omicron-delayed New York Film Critics Circle Awards dinner at Tao in the Meatpacking District in New York City gave many of this year’s Oscar nominees — and a few Oscar also-rans — a last chance to unbutton and let loose and celebrate before the big show finally, finally arrives a week from Sunday.

Attendees at the stylish and quite dimly lit event included NYFCC Best Director winner Jane Campion, who this time very carefully read her prewritten remarks off a piece of paper after her clearly riffed-upon Critics Choice Awards speech last weekend wrapped her up in backlash.

There was also Best First Film winner Maggie Gyllenhaal who, during arrivals on a cramped, packed swath of red carpet in Tao’s upstairs floor, swanned up to Best Foreign Language Film winner Joachim Trier and “Worst Person in the World” star Renate Reinsve. “I loved your movie,” Gyllenhaal, the

Jon M Chu is producing an original animated film based on “Play-Doh,” the wildly popular children’s play compound with an eye to direct, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Emily V. Gordon is writing the script and will executive produce.

“Play-Doh” is a world-leading arts & crafts toy brand sold in more than 80 countries.

“The team looks forward to bringing the audience a moldable, pliable, iconically scented story about the importance of imagination,” Chu and Gordon said in a statement.

Lance Johnson and Jane Lee will oversee development via Chu’s Electric Somewhere banner. Jillian Share, Chanel Vidal, and Steven Holster will oversee for eOne.

eOne’s upcoming production slate includes several franchise blockbusters that will be released by Paramount as part of a production deal with the studio, including “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” starring Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback and a currently untitled adaptation of

Takarada Akira, best known as a star in the early “Godzilla” films and Toho’s other kaiju (monster) and sci-fi movies from the 1950s and 1960s, died on Monday. He was 87. The cause of death has not been announced.

Born in 1934 in Japan-occupied Korea, Takarada came with his family to Japan in 1948 as a speaker of Mandarin Chinese and English. In 1953 he entered the Toho studio after passing the studio’s “New Face” audition. He made an impression in a major role as a Navy diver in the original 1954 “Godzilla” and thereafter was cast in series follow-ups including “Mothra vs. Godzilla” (1964), “Invasion of Astro-Monster” (1965), and “Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster” (1966).

Takarada also appeared in films by Ozu Yasujiro and Naruse Miko as well as musical films, melodramas, period dramas and other mainstay studio genres.

After the collapse of Japan’s studio system in the 1970s Takarada’s appearances in films

Karen Fukuhara, best known for playing Kimiko Miyashiro on Prime Video’s comic book series “The Boys” and Katana in David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad,” revealed on Instagram that she was assaulted outside of a cafe on Wednesday. The actor did not reveal the location of the incident but wrote that the assault was “the first time I’ve been harmed physically.”

“Today I was struck in the head by a man,” she wrote, noting that she was “physically fine” after the attack. “This shit needs to stop. Us women, Asians and the elderly need your help.”

“I rarely share about my private life but something happened today that I thought was important,” Fukuhara continued. “I was walking to a cafe for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head. It came out of nowhere. We made no eye contact before, I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary.

On Friday’s “Real Time,” Bill Maher took quite a while to get to his actual point during the “New Rules” segment, but when he got to it, it turned out to be a pointed criticism of Republicans.

The GOP, Maher suggested, should consider adopting a new name, perhaps, “The Trump Party,” since the majority of recent actions by its voters and membership make it clear The Republican Party doesn’t actually support the republic. And he specifically called out Fox News star Tucker Carlson for “literally reciting Russian talking points.”

The lead in to the final segment of “New Rules” was a bit about how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife attended the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he noted has extremely troubling implications for American jurisprudence. Then it was on to the final segment.

The hook was a joke about how, in Maher’s view, once an entity changes from

Like a lot of creators, director James Cullen Bressack turned pandemic lemons into lemonade, as in the case of his upcoming movie “Sally Floss: Digital Detective,” which comes out sometime in Summer 2022.

Per the logline, “In response to the financial crisis set forth by Covid-19, a shy teenager starts an internet-based detective agency to save her family home. She solves mysteries through digital footprints, virtual interviews, a brilliant mind, and an inherited intuition she never knew she had.”

Appropriately, “Sally Floss” was directed during the height of the pandemic lockdown, and makes good use of the quarantine lifestyle and its related, restrictive Zoom-eye-view of the world, both in production and in-story. You can see how this plays out in the trailer, exclusive to TheWrap, above right now.

And honestly, with a title as charming as “Sally Floss: Digital Detective,” how can you say no?

Written by Kate Queen, “Sally Floss

In the first three episodes of “WeCrashed,” now streaming on Apple TV+, Gwyneth Paltrow gets name-dropped quite a bit. But no, series star Anne Hathaway didn’t talk to the actress about her presence in the story; she didn’t want to put Paltrow in that kind of position.

Why exactly does Paltrow come up? Well, for those who didn’t know, the actress is cousins with Rebekah Neumann, the co-founder of WeWork. At the start of “WeCrashed,” we learn that Rebekah (Hathaway) is writing for her cousin’s website when she meets Adam Neumann (Jared Leto).

As the episodes progress, Gwyneth is shown as almost a bit of a sore spot for Rebekah, like when she is constantly asked by her wedding guests in episode two whether the actress will be attending Rebekah and Adam’s wedding. But, Hathaway didn’t think it would be right to pry into

“Red Rocket” star Simon Rex reveals he was offered $70,000 from “several” British tabloids if he’d say he’d had sex with Meghan Markle when they were on the same TV show.

“I was broke as f—! ,” he told The Guardian. “I really needed the money. But I’ll be on food stamps before I do that.” Markle, who’s been a frequent target of the British press since marrying Prince Harry in 2018, wrote him a thank you letter that said, ‘It’s nice to know there are still good people.’”

The two both appeared in a 2005 episode of the sitcom “Cuts” but never dated.

On Friday, Rex quote tweeted an excerpt from the interview, writing, “This is true. And I framed the thank you letter she wrote me. She has very nice penmanship btw.”

This is true. And I framed the thank you letter she wrote me. She has very nice penmanship btw.

A fourth season of “True Detective” is officially in development at HBO, Variety has learned from sources.

The new season is currently titled “True Detective: Night Country.” The plot is largely being kept under wraps, but sources say that it would take place in the Arctic, where night can last more than 24 hours. It is also believed that the season would feature two female leads. No casting is confirmed at this time.

Issa López is attached to serve as writer and executive producer on the new season in addition to directing the pilot. Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, and Mark Ceryak

Apple TV+’s newest series “WeCrashed” may not center on an outright crime, but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some bad choices made in the conception of WeWork. But, for series star Anne Hathaway, it was essential to avoid any judgement of Rebekah Neumann’s choices.

Hathaway of course plays the latter, portraying the WeWork staple and Adam Neumann’s (Jared Leto) wife. During the company’s run, Rebekah served as WeWork’s Chief Brand and Impact Officer, before later founding WeGrow, a private school meant to turn traditional education on its head.

In the series, she’s an ambitious woman with an ego similar to her husband’s, intensely blunt, and at times a bit cold. But, in crafting the fictionalized version of her, Hathaway made sure not to approach the role with those opinions herself.

“The good news is, I approach all my characters with an open mind.

“Umma” has come home.

The new original horror film (its title based on the Korean word for “mother”) from Stage 6 Films sees Sandra Oh play Amanda, living away from technology in a farmhouse with her teenage daughter (Fivel Stewart). They have apiaries and sell the honey. And instead of watching television, they play boardgames. Of course their idyllic – if somewhat odd – lifestyle comes crashing down when a relative brings Amanda’s mother’s ashes to their home.

Things start to happen at the farmhouse, as Amanda must confront the trauma of her past or run the risk of turning into her mother, both literally and figuratively. It’s an inventive horror movie, less about supernatural terror than emotional violence, and is anchored by a tremendous lead performance by Oh (she really goes for it).

TheWrap spoke to writer/director Iris K. Shim about the movie’s origins, asking for

When “Step Up” star Jenna Dewan was asked to recreate a famous “Saturday Night Fever” dance with Emmy-winning “Dancing With the Stars” regular Derek Hough for the special “Step Into…The Movies with Derek and Julianne Hough,” she couldn’t say yes fast enough.

“Nick Florez and Rj Durell, who are producing and directing, approached me and it was an immediate, ‘How can I say no to this?'” Dewan told TheWrap. “We’ve known each other for many, many years. They just know me and know what I love.”

In the dance scene, set to The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing,” Hough hip-swivels in a replica of John Travolta’s famous white suit, while Dewan is sultry in red as his partner, who was played by Karen Lynn Gorney in the 1977 film.

“Its one of the most classic movies of all-time, and that dance scene with John Travolta

Growing up presents all sorts of challenges, big feelings being one of them. Like “Inside Out,” Pixar’s latest project “Turning Red” spotlights this right of passage, and how parents pass things onto their children in addition to children going through physical and mental changes.

Director Domee Shi (“Bao”) is the first woman filmmaker with a solo directing credit on a Pixar feature, breaking yet another glass ceiling in terms of diversity in Hollywood. This Pixar feature film also takes place in Canada, and increases the number of movies that star a central Asian character.

The film also features brand new songs written by brother and sister Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.

Parents and children alike are probably searching for the details regarding how to watch “Turning Red,” and we have them all below.

When Does ‘Turning Red’ Premiere?

“Turning Red” came out on Friday, March 11.

Will ‘Turning Red’ Be Streaming or in Theaters?

The first sign of trouble is the credits. In addition to the director using an alias — not necessarily a bad thing, as talented helmers like Kogonada and Daniels can attest — whoever wrote “Measure of Revenge” chose to go uncredited. It doesn’t take long to see why: A mess from start to finish, this would-be thriller about a mother seeking vengeance (Melissa Leo) never comes close to raising the pulse but does raise more than a few eyebrows along the way. That it stars an Oscar winner only makes the whole thing stranger — viewers are likely to spend more time wondering how she came to be involved in such a shoestring production than sympathizing with her character.

The plot, such as it is, concerns vaunted stage actor Lillian Cooper (Leo) grieving the unexpected death of her fresh-out-of-rehab son Curtis (Jake Weary), a semi-famous musician whose death is ruled an overdose

The shocking upset by the Saint Peter’s Peacocks over Kentucky in the first round of Thursday night’s NCAA Tournament on CBS helped the eye to a ratings win. Coverage of the first round of the basketball championship actually kicked off before primetime, at 7 p.m. Et, but it brought in a 1.35 in the demo and 5.456 million viewers. As the tourney continued on the network, they had a 1.05 at 9:48 p.m. Et, and 4.1 million viewers, and 0.83 in the 18-49 demo with 3 million viewers at 10:08 p.m. CBS may have had an early start, but they maintained a demo above 1 until almost 10 p.m., and even after that, it stayed close to 1 for an overall win. NBC was second in ratings, earning 0.56 in the demo at 8 for “Law and Order,” with 4.6 million viewers. “Svu” brought the network a higher demo number — 0.65 — and 4.7 million viewers. Things dipped, however, for