Apple TV+ has dropped this first trailer for the comedy heist thriller THE INSTIGATORS starring Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Hong Chau, Michael Stuhlbarg, Paul Walter Hauser, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones, with Jack Harlow and Ron Perlman.
Directed by Doug Liman and written by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck, check out this first look now.
Rory (Matt Damon) and Cobby (Casey Affleck) are reluctant partners: a desperate father and an ex-con thrown together to pull off a robbery of the ill-gained earnings of a corrupt politician. But when the heist goes wrong, the two find themselves engulfed in a whirlwind of chaos, pursued not only by police, but also backwards bureaucrats and vengeful crime bosses. Completely out of their depth, they convince Rory’s therapist (Hong Chau) to join their riotous getaway through the city, where they must put aside their differences and work together to evade capture—or worse.
An Apple Original Film hailing from Artist Equity, Studio 8 and The Walsh Company, “The Instigators,” is directed by Doug Liman, written by Chuck MacLean and Casey Affleck, produced by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Kevin J. Walsh, Alison Winter with Celia Costas, Dani Bernfeld, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe, Cynthia Dahlgren, Luciana Damon serving as executive producers.
THE INSTIGATORS will premiere in select cinemas and stream globally on Apple TV+ from 9 August, 2024.
Michael G. Wilson & Barbara Broccoli (Credit Greg Williams)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that its Board of Governors voted to present Academy Honorary Awards to Quincy Jones and Juliet Taylor, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Richard Curtis and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The Oscar® statuettes will be presented at the Academy’s Governors Awards event on Sunday, November 17, 2024, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Ovation Hollywood.
“The recipients of this year’s Governors Awards have set the bar incredibly high across their remarkable careers, and the Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to recognize them with Oscars,” said Academy President Janet Yang. “The selection of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli is a testament to their success as producers of the fan-favorite Bond series and their contribution to the industry’s theatrical landscape. Richard Curtis is a brilliant comedic storyteller whose tremendous charitable efforts embody the meaning of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Quincy Jones’s artistic genius and relentless creativity have made him one of the most influential musical figures of all time. Juliet Taylor has cast iconic and beloved films and paved a new path for the field. Their profound love of cinema and indelible contribution to our art form make these five individuals truly deserving of these honors.”
Richard Curtis (Credit Rich Hardcastle-Comic Relief)
Curtis’s film credits include “Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Love Actually” and “About Time.” He earned an Oscar nomination for his screenplay for “Four Weddings and a Funeral.” Curtis is the co-founder of Comic Relief UK and USA, and his fundraising work over 40 years has helped raise more than $2 billion and supported over 170 million people. In 2005, he co-created Make Poverty History and helped produce the Live 8 concerts. Most recently, he co-founded the group Project Everyone, giving practical support to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and established the ethical investment campaign Make My Money Matter, which has helped transfer £1.3 trillion into sustainable pensions.
Quincy Jones (Credit Greg Gorman)
A prominent figure with an illustrious musical career spanning seven decades, Jones has produced and composed an expansive body of work. His film credits include “In the Heat of the Night” and he has earned a total of seven Oscar nominations for his work on such films as “In Cold Blood,” “The Wiz” and “The Color Purple,” receiving a Best Picture nomination for the latter. In 1967, Jones was the first Black composer to be nominated in the Original Song category. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with Lesley Gore, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey, among others. Jones was the recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1994.
Taylor is a prolific casting director who is behind some of the most acclaimed casts in film history. Some notable credits from her 50-year career include “Taxi Driver,” “Annie Hall,” “Big,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Schindler’s List,” “Interview with the Vampire,” “Angela’s Ashes,” “Midnight in Paris” and “Blue Jasmine.” She has worked with directors including James L. Brooks, Nora Ephron, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, to name a few.
Casting Director Juliet Taylor prior to “Perfect Choice: the Art of the Casting Director” presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, on Wednesday, April 13, 2016.
Wilson and Broccoli of EON Productions are producers of the James Bond film series. They have produced some of the most successful 007 films ever including “Casino Royale,” “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall,” “Spectre” and “No Time to Die.” Wilson and Broccoli have produced and executive produced independent film projects such as “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool,” “Nancy,” “The Rhythm Section,” “Till” and “The Accidental Getaway Driver.” They are directors of the Broccoli Foundation, founded by Dana and Albert R. (Cubby) Broccoli to support the arts, medicine and education. Cubby Broccoli received the Thalberg Award in 1981. Barbara Broccoli is the second woman to receive the Thalberg Award.
The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences of any discipline, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”
The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, also an Oscar statuette, is given “to an individual in the motion picture arts and sciences whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry by promoting human welfare and contributing to rectifying inequities.”
The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, now an Oscar statuette, is presented to creative producers “whose body of work reflects a consistently high quality of motion picture production.”
The 15th Governors Awards is proudly supported by Rolex, the Exclusive Watch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Catherine Laga‘aia will be voyaging to Motunui and beyond as the adventurous teenager who sails out on a daring mission to save her people in Disney’s upcoming live-action “Moana.” “I’m really excited to embrace this character because Moana is one of my favorites,” said the 17-year-old Sydney, Australia, native. “My grandfather comes from Fa‘aala, Palauli, in Savai‘i. And my grandmother is from Leulumoega Tuai on the main island of ‘Upolu in Samoa. I’m honored to have an opportunity to celebrate Samoa and all Pacific Island peoples, and to represent young girls who look like me.”
The cast also includes Auckland, New Zealander John Tui as Moana’s no-nonsense father, Chief Tui; Samoan-New Zealand actress Frankie Adams portrays Moana’s playful and strong-willed mother, Sina; and Rena Owen, who hails from Bay of Islands, NZ, was cast as the revered Gramma Tala. Previously announced, Dwayne Johnson, who voiced larger-than-life demigod Maui in the 2016 animated version of the film, will reprise his role.
(Pictured) Rena Owen. Photo by Manfred Baumann.(Pictured) John Tui.(Pictured) Frankie Adams.
Releasing in theaters on July 10, 2026, “Moana” is directed by Thomas Kail, who helmed “Hamilton” on Broadway and Disney+, “Grease Live” and the first and last episodes of Hulu’s lauded limited series “We Were the Lucky Ones.” Said Kail, “I am thrilled to have met Catherine, Rena, Frankie and John through this casting process. I am humbled by this opportunity, and I cannot wait to all be on set together. And there’s no better pair to be in a canoe with than Catherine and Dwayne—actually, trio: Heihei is ready, too.”
“Moana” will bring to life in a whole new way the story of a young woman eager to pave her own path. Celebrating the islands, communities and traditions of Pacific Islanders in a spectacular adventure, the production begins filming this summer. The new feature film is produced by Johnson, Dany Garcia and Hiram Garcia via their Seven Bucks Productions and Beau Flynn via FlynnPictureCo. Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the original songs, will also serve as producer. Executive producers include Scott Sheldon of FlynnPictureCo., Auli‘i Cravalho, who voiced Moana in the 2016 film, and Charles Newirth. Jared Bush and Dana Ledoux Miller have been tapped for the project. Bush, a veteran of Disney Animation, wrote the screenplay for 2016’s “Moana,” and Miller is a Samoan writer who created Netflix’s “Thai Cave Rescue” and co-founded the non-profit Pasifika Entertainment Advancement Komiti (PEAK).
Streaming globally on Prime Video July 18 is MY SPY THE ETERNAL CITY.
The eagerly awaited follow-up to 2020’s action comedy, My Spy The Eternal City, reunites a beloved cast led by Dave Bautista and Chloe Coleman in a feel-good family adventure set in some of Europe’s most storied destinations.
When Sophie’s (Coleman) high school choir is selected for an Italian tour culminating in a performance for the Pope in Vatican City, JJ (Bautista) sees this as an opportunity to bond with his new stepdaughter, so he volunteers to help chaperone the group through the Venetian canals, across Florence’s renowned bridges and into Rome’s most historic sites. Instead, he finds that he and Sophie have become unwitting pawns in a terrorist plot that could end the world as we know it.
Returning stars Ken Jeong and Kristen Schaal are joined by Anna Faris, Craig Robinson and Flula Borg in this all-new international action comedy from director Pete Segal (Get Smart, 50 First Dates).
Happy Wednesday fellow movie geeks. The first trailer has arrived for PADDINGTON IN PERU!
As you can from the two posters, the film will open in U.S. theaters on January 17, 2025 and will debut in UK cinemas two months earlier on November 8, 2024.
PADDINGTON IN PERU brings Paddington’s story to Peru as he returns to visit his beloved Aunt Lucy, who now resides at the Home for Retired Bears. With the Brown Family in tow, a thrilling adventure ensues when a mystery plunges them into an unexpected journey through the Amazon rainforest and up to the mountain peaks of Peru.
Directed by Dougal Wilson, PADDINGTON IN PERU stars Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer, Antonio Banderas, Olivia Colman, Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Carla Tous and Jim Broadbent. Ben Whishaw and Imelda Staunton both return as the voices of Paddington and Aunt Lucy.
PADDINGTON (2014) grossed $282,463,312 worldwide on an estimated budget of $55 million. In the US and Canada, it grossed $76,271,832 and had an opening weekend of $18,966,676. PADDINGTON 2 (2017) grossed $227.3 million worldwide, with $40.9 million in the US and Canada and $186.4 million in other countries. It had an opening of $11,001,961 in 3,702 theaters.
PADDINGTON 2 received three nominations at the 71st British Academy Film Awards: Outstanding British Film, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Hugh Grant.
Ben Whishaw will again star as the voice of the marmalade-loving bear, with Aunt Lucy still voiced by Imelda Staunton.
Hugh Bonneville, Dame Julie Walters, Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin also return.
But Sally Hawkins has handed the role of Mrs Brown to Emily Mortimer.
Announcing her departure, Hawkins said she “loved” her time making the first two films but it was “the right time to hand the reins over to another”, adding: “One can’t get much better than the truly wonderful Emily Mortimer – she is extraordinarily special.”
Another addition to the cast, Olivia Colman, stars as a guitar-playing nun who works at the Home for Retired Bears. She tells Paddington and co that Aunt Lucy is “on some sort of quest”.
He then embarks on a mission to find her, with the help of a boat captain, voiced by another newcomer, Antonio Banderas. Dame Julie Walters returns as Mrs Bird, in her first film role in three years.
Universal and DreamWorks Animation have unveiled the latest trailer for THE WILD ROBOT, a new adaptation of a literary sensation, Peter Brown’s beloved, award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller.
The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.
Check out the super cute trailer below and see the movie in theaters September 27.
I love this trailer… can’t wait to see this!
The film definitely looks to be among this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature. DreamWorks has received 14 nomination for their previous films which include Shrek, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Shrek 2, Shark Tale, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, The Croods, How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Boss Baby, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The studio has won three Academy Awards.
(from back center) Roz (Lupita N’yongo), and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.
The Wild Robot stars Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, The Black Panther franchise) as robot Roz; Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as fox Fink; Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Best in Show) as opossum Pinktail; Oscar® nominee Bill Nighy (Living, Love Actually) as goose Longneck; Kit Connor (Heartstopper, Rocketman) as gosling Brightbill and Oscar® nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once, this summer’s The Fall Guy) as Vontra, a robot that will intersect with Roz’s life on the island.
The film also features the voice talents of Emmy winning pop-culture icon Mark Hamill (Star Wars franchise, The Boy and the Heron), Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, The SpongeBob Movie franchise) and Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible films, Pulp Fiction).
(from left) Roz (Lupita N’yongo), and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.
A powerful story about the discovery of self, a thrilling examination of the bridge between technology and nature and a moving exploration of what it means to be alive and connected to all living things, The Wild Robot is written and directed by three-time Oscar® nominee Chris Sanders—the writer-director of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch—and is produced by Jeff Hermann (DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby 2: Family Business; co-producer, Kung Fu Panda franchise).
Peter Brown’s The Wild Robot, an illustrated middle-grade novel first published in 2016, became a phenomenon, rocketing to #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The book has since inspired a trilogy that now includes The Wild Robot Escapes and The Wild Robot Protects. Brown’s work on the Wild Robot series and his other bestselling books have earned him a Caldecott Honor, a Horn Book Award, two E.B. White Awards, two E.B. White Honors, a Children’s Choice Award for Illustrator of the Year, two Irma Black Honors, a Golden Kite Award and a New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award.
(from left) Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz (Lupita N’yongo), and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in DreamWorks Animation’s Wild Robot, directed by Chris Sanders.
PIECE BY PIECE is a unique cinematic experience that invites audiences on a vibrant journey through the life of cultural icon Pharrell Williams. Told through the lens of LEGO® animation, turn up the volume on your imagination and witness the evolution of one of music’s most innovative minds.
Featuring the voices of Pharrell Williams, Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, check out the brand new trailer.
The film is from director Morgan Neville. His previous work is the 2018 film Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, a documentary about Fred Rogers and 20 Feet from Stardom, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2014.
Focus Features will release PIECE BY PIECE in theaters on Friday, October 11th.
Lionsgate will return to the world of Panem with the major motion picture adaptation of the next book in the franchise, Suzanne Collins’s highly anticipated Hunger Games novel Sunrise on the Reaping, it was announced today by Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group.
Franchise producer Nina Jacobson, alongside her producing partner Brad Simpson, will return to produce The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping under their Color Force banner. It will be the sixth outing for Color Force since bringing the franchise to Lionsgate in 2012. Francis Lawrence is in talks to direct the film; Lawrence has helmed four previous films in the Hunger Games franchise – every film since Catching Fire.
The film will be released in theaters in North America beginning on November 20, 2026.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will revisit the world of Panem 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the 50th Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell. One of the most eagerly awaited publishing events of the year, Sunrise on the Reaping will be published by Scholastic simultaneously in print, digital, and audio formats in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on March 18, 2025.
There are more than 100 million copies of all four books in The Hunger Games series in print and digital formats worldwide, and foreign publishing rights have been sold in 54 languages. Lionsgate has adapted these best-selling books into five feature films that have collectively grossed more than $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office and boasted star-studded casts including Academy Award® winner Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Rachel Zegler, Tom Blyth, Viola Davis, Jason Schwartzman, and Peter Dinklage.
The world of The Hunger Games that Suzanne Collins created continues to grow around the globe as theme park attractions, experiences, and live events, including The World of the Hunger Games at the Motiongate Dubai theme park and a major stage production set to debut in London from Olivier Award-winning playwright Conor McPherson (“Girl from the North Country”) and directed by Matthew Dunster (“2:22—A Ghost Story,” “Hangmen,” “The Pillowman”).
“Suzanne Collins is a master storyteller and our creative north star,” said Fogelson. “We couldn’t be more fortunate than to be guided and trusted by a collaborator whose talent and imagination are so consistently brilliant. We know Hunger Games fans worldwide will be spellbound by where Suzanne has focused this next extraordinary story. The Second Quarter Quell is legendary and looms large over the history of the Games, even into the time of Katniss Everdeen a quarter-century later. Like fans around the globe, we are eagerly anticipating this exciting return to Panem.”
“From the beginning, Lionsgate has been a wonderful home and partner for the Hunger Games franchise, and I’m very excited to be collaborating with Adam and the team as we bring this next story to theaters in 2026,” said Suzanne Collins.
Meredith Wieck and Scott O’Brien will oversee the production on behalf of the studio. Patricia Laucella and Phil Strina oversaw the rights for the book for Lionsgate. Collins was represented by Jason Dravis from The Dravis Agency and Diane Golden and Sarah Lerner from the law firm Katz Golden Lerner LLP.
In THE KILLER’S GAME, when top hitman Joe Flood (Dave Bautista) is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he decides to take matters into his own hands – by taking a hit out on himself. But when the very hitmen he hired also target his ex-girlfriend (Sofia Boutella) , he must fend off an army of assassin colleagues and win back the love of his life before it’s too late.
Check out the trailer for the action-comedy also featuring Terry Crews, Scott Adkins, with Pom Klementieff, and Ben Kingsley.
Based on the book by Jay R. Bonansinga, the film is directed by J.J. Perry, who also helmed the very funny vampire horror flick, DAY SHIFT. Perry is also working with Bautista, as well as Samuel L. Jackson, on the upcoming post-apocalyptic science fiction action film, AFTERBURN.
With a score from composer Roque Baños, THE KILLER’S GAME is set to hit theaters on September 13.
In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison.
Giving a voice to the invisible and unheard women of the rural past; THE DEVIL’S BATH is based on historical court records about a shocking, hitherto unexplored chapter of European history.
From Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (GOODNIGHT MOMMY, THE LODGE), check out the trailer.
The film stars Anja Plaschg, David Scheid, Maria Hofstätter. THE DEVIL’S BATH will have it’s North American Premiere on Saturday, June 8th at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, said in her review: “”Plaschg is raw, direct and affecting…with the kind of passion we are very occasionally privileged to see from first-time actors.”
Coming to IFC CENTER on JUNE 21st & SHUDDER on June 28th.
Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s THE DEVIL’S BATH. Courtesy of Ulrich SeidFilm Produktion and Heimatfilm. A Shudder Release
