CANNES, France (AP) — George Miller's “Three Thousand Years of Longing” spans millennia, but it can often feel longer waiting in between films from the “Mad Max” director.
Seven years after Miller's “Fury Road” blazed its way across movie screens, the 77-year-old filmmaker is finally back with a movie two decades in the works, and with a lot on its mind about what's temporary and what's eternal.
Sharks, grizzlies, giant snakes and rampaging apes have traditionally been the go-to choices for animal-kingdom antagonists in survival thrillers. Lions not so much. Maybe the king of the jungle has always been too regal, too majestic — too heroic — to be lowered to the status of mere summer-movie marauder.
What gets you, deep in the gut, are the smiles. The broad, awkward, sometimes silly smiles of people on an unremarkable day in an unremarkable town in 1938 Poland, fascinated by this new thing called a movie camera and oblivious to the fact that one day, this amateur travel movie will become a devastating historical artifact.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wolfgang Petersen, the German filmmaker whose World War II submarine epic “Das Boot” propelled him into a blockbuster Hollywood career that included the films “In the Line of Fire,” “Air Force One” and “The Perfect Storm,” has died.
LONDON (AP) — Nicholas Evans, the British author of the bestselling novel “The Horse Whisperer," has died at 72, his representatives said Monday.
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— In the almost 25 years since Princess Diana died, there has never been any shortage of content examining the enormous impact and intrigue of her short life.
NEW YORK (AP) — The Brad Pitt action film “Bullet Train” led all movies in ticket sales for a second straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, while a quiet spell in theaters and incredible staying power allowed “Top Gun: Maverick” to rocket back into third place in its 12th week of release.
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 3.1 million viewers watched Fox Sports' broadcast of Major League Baseball's second “Field of Dreams” game, about half of the audience for the 2021 game.
The Chicago Cubs beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 on Thursday night at a throwback ballpark in eastern Iowa, a short walk from the main field for the 1989 movie.
The last thing the world needs, you might think, is another Princess Diana documentary.
It’s a fair thought considering that almost 25 years after her death, her life and impact is still media fodder.
DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Standing among rows of Iowa cornstalks, Nico Hoerner had Johnny Bench on his left and Billy Williams right next to him.
The movie “Mack & Rita” — which adds grandma chic to two things no one needs on screen like lazy filmmaking and a tired old concept — can be distilled into one word: cringe.
Virtually no one associated with this film should be congratulated in any way, having ruptured any bridges between Hollywood and senior citizens or for the shocking misuse of Diane Keaton's considerable skills.
DYERSVILLE, Iowa (AP) — David Bell's grandfather, father and brother played in the majors. Bell spent 12 years in the big leagues himself and worked as a coach and front office executive before taking over as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.
“Heat 2: A Novel” by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner (William Morrow)
Hollywood screenwriter and director Michael Mann and veteran thriller writer Meg Gardiner have achieved a rarity with their novel “Heat 2”: a screen-to-page sequel that stands tall on its own.
NEW YORK (AP) — The stylized action romp “Bullet Train," starring Brad Pitt, arrived with a $30.1 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, as the last big movie of Hollywood's summer recovery landed in theaters.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Demolition is scheduled to begin this week on a once-opulent downtown Anchorage movie theater designed by the architect of Hollywood’s famed Pantages Theater.
Anchorage entrepreneur Austin “Cap” Lathrop opened the 4th Avenue Theatre, with nearly 1,000 seats, on May 31, 1947, with a showing of “The Jolson Story.” The art deco theater became the centerpiece of the downtown historic district.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — For a comedy, Jo Koy's new movie “Easter Sunday” had a lot of waterworks.
The film was no ordinary job for the comedian and the rest of the cast. The magnitude of being on a mostly Filipino set led to happy cry-fests, Koy said.
NEW YORK (AP) — In a highly unusual move that rattled Hollywood, Warner Bros. axed the “Batgirl” film planned for HBO Max, opting to shelve the $90 million film as the reorganized studio revamps its approach to streaming and DC Comics films.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A Girl Scout and avid reader. A trombone player who loved movies and basketball. A straight-A student who loved Irish dance and was looking forward to a trip to Ireland.
Slide over, Jamaican bobsledders. A group of expats from the ice-free island are hoping to bring a whole new winter sport to their tropical homeland: curling.
Three decades after Jamaica crashed the Winter Olympics — and then crashed at the Winter Olympics — with the bobsled team made famous in the movie “Cool Runnings,” the country has joined the World Curling Federation.
It may be common etiquette to not spoil the end of a film, but Ron Howard learned years ago on “Apollo 13” that knowing the outcome of a story is different from knowing the story itself. And though the 2018 rescue of the Thai boys’ soccer team and their coach is considerably fresher in our collective memories, Howard saw in it a similar opportunity.
NEW YORK (AP) — Producer Janet Yang has been elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group’s board of governors announced Tuesday, making her the first Asian American to lead the film academy.
Aboard the speeding locomotive of “Bullet Train” ride at least five assassins, one venomous reptile (a snake on the train), countless glib Guy Ritchie-esque slo-mo action sequences, and one bucket-hat wearing Brad Pitt.
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
The summer box office showed signs of slowing down this weekend as the animated “DC League of Super-Pets” opened in theaters across North America.
The superhero spinoff about Superman’s dog earned $23 million from 4,314 locations, according to studio estimates Sunday.
LONDON (AP) — Bernard Cribbins, a beloved British entertainer whose seven-decade career ranged from the bawdy “Carry On” comedies to children’s television and “Doctor Who,” has died. He was 93.
Agent Gavin Barker Associates announced Cribbins’ death on Thursday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci and his tumultuous experience during the COVID-19 pandemic are the focus of a PBS “American Masters” documentary.
The film follows Fauci at home and at work during a 14-month period starting from President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January 2021, PBS announced Wednesday.
Maybe it's a counter-reaction to our increasingly digital reality, but lately horror films have increasingly turned to primal pasts to resurrect the rituals and fears of folktale.
It's a strikingly global trend, spanning puritan New England ("The Witch"), rural Iceland (“Lamb”), North Dublin ("You Are Not My Mother") and pagan cults of Sweden ("Midsommar").
NEW YORK (AP) — In Wes Studi’s potent and pioneering acting career, he has played vengeful warriors, dying prisoners and impassioned resistance leaders. For three decades, he has arrestingly crafted wide-ranging portraits of the Native American experience.
DC films have a reputation for being a little too self-serious. They’ve made significant strides to chip away at that dark and dour image in recent years, but it lingers even with things like “The LEGO Batman Movie.” Sometimes it’s even easy to forget that when it comes down to it, superheroes are for kids.
Hollywood film producer Dan Lin — known for movies such as Disney’s live action “Aladdin” and “The Two Popes” — is launching a nonprofit with more than $1 million from the Ford and MacArthur foundations as well as several other philanthropies.
Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.
MOVIES
— Modern influencer culture is skewered in the smart new satire “Not Okay,” streaming on Hulu starting Friday.
Jordan Peele ’s UFO thriller “Nope” topped the North American charts in its first weekend in theaters with an estimated $44 million in ticket sales, Universal Pictures said Sunday.
Marvel Studios unveiled the first trailer for “ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ” — set to “No Woman No Cry” — to fans at Comic-Con on Saturday in San Diego.
Dwayne Johnson went a few steps beyond merely teasing his long-awaited “Black Adam” movie at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday.
Ever the showman, Johnson brought a new traile r for the DC Comics superhero film and some flashy technology, lighting up the biggest room at the annual fan convention all while in costume.
NEW YORK (AP) — Decades after the release of Michael Mann’s “Heat,” the classic crime thriller has endured in the minds of fans, critics, peers and the director himself.
NEW YORK (AP) — India's film industry is one of the most vast and varied in the world — it's really not one but many separate industries, including Bollywood, Tollywood and others — yet few of the country's roughly 2,000 annually produced movies ever make much of a dent with Western audiences.
A great debut in Hollywood can be a blessing and a curse. Once you knock it out of the park like Jordan Peele did with “Get Out,” which captured the zeitgeist so perfectly within the framework of a greatly entertaining thriller, home runs become the standard, not the exception.