Category: Entertainment

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 2, now streaming on Dropout.

Comedy streaming service Dropout committed to the bit hard this April Fools’ Day with the launch of a “second season” of “Dimension 20: On a Bus.”

Released in a surprise drop Wednesday, the one-episode Season 2 serves as the follow-up to a viral short video released last year alongside an episode of Dropout’s “Game Changer,” which featured a pitch for a season of “Dimension 20” with “Dragon Master” Katie Marovitch leading players (and “D&D” experts) Jasmine Bhullar (Little Army Man), Aabria Iyengar (Blue M&M), Matthew Mercer (Lint) and Brennan Lee Mulligan (Hat) as they embark on a journey on a bus going from North Hollywood to Los Angeles’ LAX airport.

Tabletop RPG newcomer Marovitch says she, “Dimension 20” creator and star Mulligan and Dropout CEO and “Game Changer” host Sam Reich did not expect the video to draw more than 6 million views. But once it did, conversations quickly began about doing a full-length episode of “On a Bus.”

“It was pretty early on we were talking about it, shortly after the original two-minute-and-30-second-long Season 1 premiered,” Marovitch told Variety. “We didn’t know it was going to be such a big thing. It’s been very exciting, seeing everyone at conventions dressed as me in my outfits. I don’t think we were anticipating that. So it sort of made sense to do another thing pretty soon after it actually premiered.”

Though not originally planned as an ongoing series, “Dimension 20: On a Bus” shot its second season in January with its original cast and their characters (with the exception of Iyengar’s original Blue M&M, “because Aabria kept eating Blue M&M,” Marovitch) resuming gameplay under Marovitch’s rules.

What began as a joke (and is now the highest-rated episode of “Dimension 20” on IMDb) remains a joke throughout most of Season 2, but Marovitch says she wanted to pay homage to the art of “D&D” while DM-ing for the group of hardcore players.

“There’s a fine line between making fun of something and then honoring it, because I actually, obviously respect [this],” Marovitch said. “They’re all incredible, and they’re so much better at this than I could ever be. So I definitely don’t want to offend anyone while I’m doing it, I just want it to be fun.”

Marovitch “cannot stress how little” she knew about “D&D” going into the original “Dimension 20: On a Bus,” but says she put a lot of effort into Season 2 plans.

“I actually did prepare a lot. I put a lot of time into thinking of the bits and like, oh, is this crossing a line? Is this going to be offensive to Brennan and the other people at the table, or is this something that’s just fun for everyone?” Marovitch said. “Also, I’m very Type A, so for me, not reading about ‘D&D’ and knowing everything about it before going in was really hard for me. But Brennan, when I talked to him beforehand, he was kind of like, the less you know about it, truthfully, is the better. Like, it’s funnier to have you going in as just an idiot. But my impulse is definitely like, oh, I should prepare in order to actually know what I’m supposed to be doing, and then sort of subvert that. But no this time, we really were like, prepare your bits. And I did prepare my bits a lot, but I really tried hard not to go further than that.”

Read more from Variety‘s interview with “Dimension 20: On a Bus” star Marovitch about Season 2 and plans for additional episodes below.

At what point in prep for “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 2 did you decide additional kinds of die might be helpful here? Or that you should include more than one rule in the game mechanics?

The first season, the two-minute-and-30-second-long season, I went in knowing, literally, I had no idea what I was going to say for the die system. And the six, the “perfect six,” just came to me, and then we went with that. But for this one, since it was obviously a much longer season, I thought maybe that wouldn’t be quite enough. So you will notice that there is a different system this time. It’s far more complicated. A TI-83 is involved. It might be hard for the viewers to follow it. Maybe I’m going to write something up, some sort of instruction manual, maybe my own book. I just want people to know that there’s other systems that can be used, besides the perfect six.

At the end of Season 1, had you left yourself room for where you would want go to plotwise if the story continued beyond just that bit?

Not at all. I cannot stress how little I knew going in for Season 1. Truly, I had no idea what I was going to say. The only thing that I came in with was that there was going to be a bus. And then for Season 2, obviously, I put a lot of time into the pitch, genuinely. Through talking to Brennan, he was really like, no, try not to think too much about the plot, because that actually makes it harder. If the DM knows exactly what they want to do, and then obviously you’re working with other players, it’s all dependent on what they say. So for me, Season 1, I cannot stress enough how little thought went into it. I had to rewatch the season multiple times. I was like, what did I even say? I have no idea what I did.

This was shot in January. How long did it take to film?

It was one day, and it actually started late, and some people were already on set in the morning. So it was a long day that started sort of late, and it was nice. I got to bring my baby to set and it’s fun being a new parent and trying to work in pumping and breastfeeding and all that. But it was a blast.

You use a lot of props from previous seasons of “Dimension 20” in this episode. Did Brennan give you full access to the prop room, or suggest certain pieces to use?

The team behind this was truly incredible. Obviously, I know nothing about “D&D,” but they really helped pull together all the props from various seasons that they thought could work. And it was really a collaboration for the bits, where people who knew a lot more than I did would bring something up. Like the Critical Role Vecna — which, obviously I would have no idea, I would not be able to come up with that bit, because I’ve never seen it. So that was definitely someone else coming up with that. It was really a collaboration. And definitely the best bits are from other people who are way more knowledgeable than I am.

During the episode, you disclose that you were approached by Critical Role to take over as a “replacement” for an unnamed person on that show. Are those talks still ongoing?

I like to believe they’re ongoing. And yeah, I’m kind of choosing to believe that that will happen. Whether or not that was true, remains to be seen. But for me, I’m choosing to believe that those talks are ongoing.

You also told Brennan that you were given a much larger budget than the average season of “Dimension 20” gets from Dropout. How much more would you say?

I think they said I got, like, triple the budget? And obviously, I mean, you saw it — yes, we used it. We used the money. The Cheeto budget alone, I think I had $5,000. And we did go through it all, obviously.

These new additions — the “Mr. Questions” badge, the Cheetos-filled dice tray — do you see these being incorporated into standard gameplay on Brennan’s future seasons of “Dimension 20”?

I like to believe that they will be sort of not just for “D20,” I like to believe that they’re going to be sort of just what everyone does across all of “D&D” in general. I like to believe that’s just going to be a part of gameplay from now on. And that’s sort of the reality I’m choosing to live in.

At the end of the episode, you quote one of Brennan’s iconic lengthy monologues from “Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy.” Why did you pick that particular speech for this moment in “On a Bus”?

It was so weird, because I didn’t even know that that was from that. Like, I just started sort of talking from the heart and then the people behind the scenes shot me over that thing, and I was like, oh, my God. We’re, again, me and Brennan are so in sync. We come up with the exact same monologs, word for word, like, all the time, and it’s just another example of that. So, yeah, for me, no, I’d never seen it. And no, I certainly wasn’t stealing it. It was independent, yeah, for sure.

Was this a one-time expansion of the bit or will there be more? Is there a “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 3 in the works?

Yeah, I plan on annoying Sam and Brennan enough where they sort of do whatever they can possibly do to shut me up. So I can promise you, we’re doing a Season 3. Although [the Dropout PR monitoring this interview] is going to say, “No, Katie has no right to promise things like that. Please don’t put that in the article. Katie has no authority.” But I’m telling you, Jenny, I promise there’s going to be a Season 3, there’s going to be Season 4, there’s going to be a Season 5.

All on a bus? Or are you thinking that “Dimension 20: On a Bus” could then be a franchise itself with further spinoffs?

I love that question. I’m seeing “Dimension 20: In an Uber.” Not to blow your mind, but I could see it in a Waymo. We’re in 2026, here. We got to start thinking big. I could definitely see it in a spaceship. You know, let’s go to space. I think there’s so much. It’s such a rich world and I’m so ready to just keep exploring. “Dimension 20: On a Bus” Season 10 might be in space, for sure, or underwater, haven’t decided.

Well, in Season 2 you already go on a plane, so it’s accelerating quickly. While shooting the episode, did you pre-plan to have each of the cast members come into the DM chair to take over at different points or did that just happen?

No, I had no idea I was gonna be doing that. I did it with Matt, just as a bit. That was my first one. And then I thought, well, hold on, this is a way for the story to actually advance much better than how I could do it, so maybe this is a good idea and I should keep doing it. I don’t think all of their turns, like the full length, obviously, didn’t make it in. But truly, the best parts of the episode are when I’m not in the driver’s seat.

Did you take what they said and learn from it and use it throughout the rest?

Yes. And actually, I think you can see on my face when I had sort of a light bulb moment every time where they said something so much smarter than anything that I could ever have come up with. And I thought, oh, yeah, we have to do that. We have to keep pursuing whatever that was. You can see, truly, whenever I’m not in the chair, I’m just like a little kid, just like giddy with excitement that someone else is saying something far smarter than what I could say.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains spoilers for “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” now playing in theaters.

Just like its predecessor, “The Super Mario Galaxy” movie is packed with characters, enemies and power-ups from the entire history of “Mario” video games — but this time there are nods to several other Nintendo titles.

The first major crossover came with the reveal that Glen Powell would be voicing “Star Fox” pilot Fox McCloud in the sequel. Fox, who’s also one of the original characters from the “Super Smash Bros.” fighting series alongside Mario, plays a surprisingly substantial role for a non-“Mario” character. He meets Mario, Luigi, Peach and Yoshi while they’re stranded in space and surrounded by tons of unfamiliar characters. He offers to fly them in his Arwing spaceship and joins the battle against Bowser and Bowser Jr. — he even gets his own backstory flashback.

In the first post-credits scene, Fox and one of the Toads fly to a deserted prison where Bowser (now in his Dry Bowser form after being burnt by lava) and Bowser Jr. sit defeated. The “Star Fox” music plays over the quick scene, and many fans are hoping this leads to a “Star Fox” movie or even a “Super Smash Bros.” crossover.

Characters from all over the Nintendo universe and beyond (like Sonic and Pac-Man) come together to battle in the “Super Smash Bros.” games, and now many characters have been introduced in the “Mario” movies. Mario, Fox, Luigi, Yoshi and Donkey Kong have been on every “Super Smash Bros.” roster, and characters like Peach, Bowser, Bowser Jr., Rosalina and Diddy Kong joined later on. There were also cameos from R.O.B., Mr. Game & Watch and Captain Olimar’s Pikmin in “Super Mario Galaxy,” totaling 13 references to “Smash Bros.” characters — plus one more in the final post-credits scene.

Peach’s royal counterpart Princess Daisy pops up in the final scene of the movie, introducing one of the “Mario” series’ most popular characters. Earlier in “Super Mario Galaxy,” Luigi referenced wanting a princess of his own after Mario and Peach grow close, and it appears he’ll get his wish if a third movie is made. Daisy is often portrayed as Luigi’s love interest, and she appears in many of the “Mario” video games and as an alternate version of Peach in “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.”

Check out all of the video game cameos from “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” below.

The BBC has admitted that it was aware of a police investigation into allegations Scott Mills engaged in sexual offenses involving a teenage boy.

One of the BBC’s top radio presenters, Mills was dismissed on Tuesday, seemingly out of the blue. It soon emerged he had been questioned by police in 2018 in relation to the allegation.

Now the BBC has said that despite being aware of the investigation, it hired him last year to takeover from Zoe Ball on its flagship program “The Breakfast Show.”

“Scott Mills had a long career across the BBC, he was hugely popular and we know the news this week has come as a shock and surprise to many,” a spokesperson for the BBC said in a statement on Wednesday. “We also recognise there’s been much speculation in the media and online since Monday. We hope people understand that there is a limit to what we can say because we have to be mindful of the rights of those involved.”

“What we can confirm is that in recent weeks, we obtained new information relating to Scott and we spoke directly with him. As a result, the BBC acted decisively in line with our culture and values and terminated his contracts on Friday 27 March.”

“The BBC has made a significant commitment to improve its culture, processes and standards. Last year, following an independent culture review, we set out the behavioural expectations for everyone who works with or for the BBC and we were clear action would be taken if these were not met. Separately, we can confirm the BBC was made aware in 2017 of the existence of an ongoing police investigation, which was subsequently closed in 2019 with no arrest or charge being made. We are doing more work to understand the detail of what was known by the BBC at this time.”

The broadcasting corporation, which celebrated its centenary in 2022, has been under increasing scrutiny after a string of its top talent has been investigated by police for sexual offenses and in some cases charged. They include top news anchor Huw Edwards, who was convicted of possessing indecent images of children, TV and radio host Russell Brand, who is set to stand trial later this year for rape and sexual assault (which he denies), TV presenter Rolf Harris, who died in 2023 after serving prison time for sexual assault, and DJ Tim Westwood, who was accused of multiple counts of sexual misconduct, which he denies.

The most infamous sexual offender at the BBC remains TV presenter and radio DJ Jimmy Savile, whose decades of prolific sexual abuse came to light only after his death in 2011.

India holds one of the world’s largest film archives. Abhishek Prasad believes it is also one of the industry’s most underexploited commercial goldmines.

The director and CTO of Prasad Corp is not the only one making that argument. The NFDC-National Film Archive of India has been digitizing titles under the government-backed National Film Heritage Mission, while Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Film Heritage Foundation has spearheaded landmark restorations of classics including Bimal Roy’s “Do Bigha Zamin” and Girish Kasaravalli’s “Ghatashraddha,” the latter in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation World Cinema Project. But where those efforts have been driven primarily by cultural imperatives, Prasad sees restoration increasingly as a commercial proposition – and one with global reach.

The Chennai-based post-production house has recently completed 8K restorations of a slate of Indian classics including “3 Idiots,” “Munnabhai MBBS,” “Lage Raho Munnabhai,” “1942: A Love Story,” and “Mission Kashmir,” drawn from the catalogue of Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, and “Athadu” headlined by Telugu-language cinema superstar Mahesh Babu. The company has also carried out 8K restoration work on classic Hollywood titles including “My Fair Lady” and “West Side Story.”

“When we restore a film in 8K, what we are really doing is rediscovering the extraordinary detail that already exists within the original film negative,” Prasad tells Variety. “Film as a medium contains far more visual information than earlier digital formats were able to capture.”

For titles such as “3 Idiots” or “Munnabhai MBBS,” the stakes go beyond technical quality. “These are not just films – they are cultural milestones,” Prasad says. “Preserving them in 8K ensures that they remain visually relevant for decades to come, whether they are screened in theaters, streamed globally, or archived for future formats that may emerge.”

The commercial logic behind high-resolution restoration has sharpened considerably as streaming platforms have come to depend on catalogue depth. Rights holders who once treated older films as passive assets are now managing them as long-term intellectual property portfolios, with restoration serving as the mechanism to unlock that value. “A properly restored film becomes technically viable for modern distribution channels,” Prasad says. “Catalogues that might once have been dormant are now being actively monetized.”

Restoration, in Prasad’s framing, effectively resets the commercial lifecycle of a film. A title restored to 8K with immersive audio can be re-licensed to global streaming platforms, re-released theatrically for anniversaries, programmed at festivals, or introduced to markets it never reached in its original run. “Restoration becomes the bridge that connects India’s cinematic past with the global digital distribution ecosystem of today,” he says.

The technical bar for such work is considerable. Prasad describes the 8K process as involving frame-by-frame repair, careful preservation of the film’s natural grain structure – which he distinguishes from noise, calling it “an essential part of the film’s visual character” – and preparation for HDR color spaces, high-dynamic-range displays and immersive audio formats such as Dolby Atmos. On working on Hollywood classics such as “My Fair Lady” and “West Side Story,” he says, “Projects of this nature demand an exceptional level of technical precision and respect for cinematic heritage.”

The scale of what remains unrestored in India is significant. Film negatives deteriorate through humidity, chemical decay and physical damage, and without timely intervention, important works risk being lost entirely. Prasad points to the National Film Heritage Mission as a crucial public-sector effort, while arguing that private studios and rights holders must also invest. “If approached systematically, India could potentially restore thousands of films over the coming decades,” he says, “ensuring both cultural preservation and renewed commercial value.”

Prasad Corp counts itself among a small number of facilities globally capable of offering end-to-end restoration services, covering physical film repair, chemical treatment, high-resolution scanning, digital restoration, colour grading and sound remastering. The company’s longer-term ambition is for India itself to emerge as a hub within the global preservation ecosystem.

“With the scale of our film heritage and the technical expertise that has developed in the country,” Prasad says, “India has the potential to contribute meaningfully to the global ecosystem of restoring and preserving cinema for future generations.“​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Oscar and Palme d’Or-winning “Anatomy of a Fall” director Justine Triet has expanded the cast for her next feature and full English-language debut.

“Fonda” was first announced prior to Berlin Film Festival with Mia Goth (“Frankenstein”), Andrew Scott (“All of Us Strangers”), Frank Dillane (“Urchin”) and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (“Candyman”) signed up to star and Allison Janney (“The West Wing,” “I Tonya”) in talks.

Now, Janney has officially joined the cast in addition to “Marty Supreme” breakout Odessa A’zion, fast-rising British star Ewan Mitchell (“House of the Dragon,” “Wuthering Heights”), three-time Emmy winner Cherry Jones (“24,” “The Handmaid’s Tale”) and established U.K. actor Benedict Wong (“Weapons,” “Doctor Strange”). Shooting is scheduled from April to June.

According to its synopsis, “Fonda” is a “psychological thriller set in a seemingly idyllic huis clos,” set to take audiences “on a vertiginous dive into the shifting limits of a sound mind, as grief and obsession take hold.”

“Fonda” reunites writer-director Triet with both her “Anatomy of a Fall” producers Marie-Ange Luciani (Les Films de Pierre) and David Thion (Les Films Pelléas), as well as sales agent MK2 Films. Delphine Tomson, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Belgian company Les Films du Fleuve (“Rosetta”) are co-producing the film. U.K. partners House Productions (“Conclave,” “The Zone of Interest”) and BBC Film have also joined the project as co-producers.

MK2 Films (“Sentimental Value”) is handling international sales and is also financing and co-producing, alongside Studiocanal’s Anna Marsh, Francois Mergier and Assia Barge. Nathanaël Karmitz, Elisha Karmitz and Fionnuala Jamison are also credited as producers. Studiocanal will distribute “Fonda” theatrically in its own territories including France, Germany, Italy, Benelux, Poland, Australia and New Zealand. IPR.VC, with which MK2 Films has a multi-year financing deal, is also a financier. Casting for the film has been assembled by Cynthia Arra (“Anatomy of a Fall”) and Kharmel Cochrane (“Saltburn”).