Tag: Entertainment-HollywoodReporter

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) will celebrate two key milestones during its 2026 edition, organizers said on Tuesday. It will mark the fest’s 60th edition, as well as 80 years since the first festival. Classic films from the likes of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, as well as Ken Loach, will be among the ways the fest will fete the dual anniversaries, along with an exhibition, a photo exhibition honoring later former president Václav Havel.

Plus, audiences can expect a redesign of an iconic fest space. “For this and future editions, the Karlovy Vary festival is redesigning the area around the entrance to the Hotel Thermal’s Grand Hall with a new architectural design that will allow audiences to more intensely experience and share in the festival atmosphere during the festival’s opening and closing ceremonies, as well as at festival screenings,” organizers explained. “Guest arrivals with live commentary will bring the festival action closer to visitors and add interesting behind-the-scenes observations.”

KVIFF also unveiled a gala screening of a digitally restored copy of Věra Chytilová’s 1989 tragicomedy Tainted Horseplay, which became the Czechoslovak entry for what was then called the best foreign- language film at the Oscars. Plus, actress Magda Vášáryová will receive the President’s Award at KVIFF 2026, which runs July 3-11. “The festival aims not just to express its respect for the performances of one of the greatest Slovak actresses of all time, but also to remember the unique artistic connection between the Czech and Slovak filmmakers who shaped our two countries’ shared cinematic history,” the fest said.

More programming for the dual anniversary year will be unveiled in the near future. “The Karlovy Vary festival is an event at which long-term tradition and the format of a modern film festival come together in a unique way,” said KVIFF executive director Kryštof Mucha on Tuesday. “Few domestic cultural events can boast such a rich and varied history. This is thanks in part to the distinctive personalities who have shaped its identity at various points in its history. There is much that has formed its character over the course of its 80-year history, but it is up to historians to assess the extent to which the state’s cultural policy, the international situation, and various other factors have influenced the festival’s organizational and artistic qualities.”

That said, he emphasized that “the foundations laid by the festival’s first editions in the post=war years have given rise to an event that has managed to survive despite all internal tensions and external influences, that has withstood attempts at ideological control and efforts to abolish it, and that has succeeded in transforming itself into an internationally recognized showcase and a venue where filmmakers and audiences can meet in a unique atmosphere of harmony. It has become a festival that honors its legacy and that manages to reflect the present while confidently shaping the future of cinema.”

One of the oldest film festivals in the world, Karlovy Vary was part of the so-called “first wave” of post-war European film festivals. Its first edition was held in 1946 as a non-competition event with 13 features, including international participation, organized by the spa towns of Mariánské Lázně and Karlovy Vary during the first half of August. Organizers noted that it took place “before the inaugural editions of the festivals in both Cannes and Locarno and even predates the first post-war edition of the world’s oldest film festival, the Venice Film Festival (founded 1932, renewed 1946),” making KVIFF the second-oldest fest.

After presenting awards for the first time in 1948, in 1950, the fest moved permanently to Karlovy Vary. “The earliest editions had to contend with political realities that significantly intervened in its programming decisions,” organizers highlighted. “One key figure who determined the festival’s character for several decades was the journalist, educator, and internationally respected expert Antonín Martin Brousil (1907–1986). Besides contributing to the festival’s founding, he chaired its main juries for many years and essentially served as its unofficial programming director. “

Recalled KVIFF artistic director Karel Och: “Before my predecessor, the artistic director Eva Zaoralová, there was her predecessor, one of the founders of KVIFF and Antonín Martin Brousil. It is also thanks to him and the Karlovy Vary festival that films from Africa, Asia, and Latin America are today admired at leading film festivals around the world. As early as 1962, Brousil created a platform for film pioneers from these very continents within the legendary section ‘Symposium of Young and New Cinemas‘.”

But wait, why is KVIFF celebrating its 60th edition this year, 80 years after its launch? Yes, there was no edition due to COVID in 2020. But beyond that, “the disproportion between the two anniversaries, 60 and 8, is the result of several different factors,” organizers explained. “After not being held in 1953 and 1955 by political edict, the festival subsequently took place only every other year. Starting in 1959, the festival, which two years earlier had been recognized as a category ‘A’ festival by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producers Associations), a category that also includes Cannes and Venice, had to share this prestigious label and alternate years with the newly founded Moscow International Film Festival.” 

But “turbulent changes” remained part of the fest’s history, organizers noted on Tuesday. “After spending the 1950s in search of a meaningful identity, the festival truly spread its wings in the following decade, when it hosted numerous representatives of international cinema, only to suffer two decades of ‘normalization’ – a period full of restrictions that influenced both the selection of films and the awarding of prizes. Only with the easing of outside pressures in the second half of the 1980s did more substantial foreign films and interesting guests gradually return to the festival.”

KVIFF’s first post-Velvet Revolution edition in 1990 welcomed a number of exiled or banned filmmakers and the screening of titles that had previously been censored. However, uncertainty and deliberations about the fest’s purpose followed, leaving KVIFF on the verge of being canceled. “Thanks to the initiative of the forward-thinking filmmaker, artist, and Ministry of Culture official Igor Ševčík, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Foundation was established in order to take the festival’s organization out of the hands of the state, and the festival’s organizing team came to be headed by Jiří Bartoška as president” and Zaoralová as artistic director, organizers explained. “It is no exaggeration to say that these changes began an extraordinary period during which the festival was transformed into an event meeting modern and international standards. Among other things, the illogical alternating of festival years with Moscow came to an end, and since 1994, the festival has been held annually in Karlovy Vary. The festival also successfully fought off attempts to move it to Prague, and after two years of stiff competition from the Prague Golem festival, it reasserted its status as the country’s most important cinematic event.”

Here is a look at other KVIFF celebrations set for this year.

Exhibition: KVIFF 60/80 (1946–2026) 
The festival looks back on its history with an exhibition of photographs focusing in particular on its lesser-known early years, the atmosphere of its pre-1989 editions, and key moments and guests. For that purpose, 30 outdoor panels, located along the path between two of the iconic KVIFF venues, the Grandhotel Pupp and the Hotel Thermal, will take visitors on “a symbolic journey” through the festival’s 80-year history.

Out of the Past – KVIFF 60/80 (1946 – 2026) 
The popular “Out of the Past” section, which puts a spotlight on classic movies, will focus on important titles from the festival’s history. “One of the festival’s most popular permanent programs, which regularly looks back at the history of cinema, will take on a celebratory form this year,” said Och. “It will consist of twenty carefully selected films from previous editions of the festival, which are firmly linked to its history as milestones key to the KVIFF’s identity and reputation.”  

Among the films unveiled on Tuesday are Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death, which festival visitors could first see in August 1947, Ken Loach’s classic Kes, which screened at KVIFF in 1970 and won the festival’s top prize for best film, Mexican director Emilio Fernández’s Río Escondido, which traveled to the fest in 1948, and the drama Lissy by Konrad Wolf, “a legend of East German cinema,” which won one of the main prizes in 1957. But there is more: “For a long time, the print of one of the fundamental films in Australian cinematic history, the adventure drama Captain Thunderbolt, was considered lost – until 2024, when an original, uncut 35mm print was found in the Czech National Film Archive,” fest organizers said. “This year’s celebratory program will commemorate the premiere of New Zealand director Cecil Holmes’s film in the competition of the 7th KVIFF in 1952.”  

Special festival sneak preview in Mariánské Lázně 
The twin-city format of the festival’s first edition will return this year with a special preview screening of a selected film from this year’s program on July 1 at the historic Municipal Theatre in Mariánské Lázně. 

President Václav Havel and the Karlovy Vary festival 
“Over the past 30 years, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has enjoyed the support of numerous important figures, including director Miloš Forman, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and President Václav Havel,” organizers highlighted. “As a gesture of thanks for president, playwright, and author Havel’s long-term support and goodwill, the festival is marking what would have been his 90th birthday with a photographic exhibition at the Hotel Thermal commemorating his visits to the festival and his meetings with various representatives of world cinema.”

Sister Group (Black Doves, Chernobyl, Gangs of London, The Greatest Night in Pop,That Christmas), the independent global studio founded by Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone, has acquired a majority stake in digital-first creative production company After Party Studios, the company unveiled on Tuesday.

Financial details weren’t disclosed.

Founded in 2016 and focused on the intersection of digital and mainstream content, After Party Studios was set up by YouTuber Callum McGinley, also known as Callux, film and commercial director Ben Doyle, CEO Joshua Barnett, who is a former ITV executive, and Base79 founder Richard Mansell.

Sister said its investment will fuel “the company’s ambitions to supercharge its award-winning original intellectual property, branded entertainment and digital-first slate” that will allow it to join founder-led partner companies within the company’s own portfolio spanning TV and film (Sister Pictures, Dorothy St Pictures, Yes Yes Media, Locksmith Animation, South of the River, Unanimous Media), podcasting (Campside Media), publishing (Zando, AWA) and music and live experiences (Koko). 

After Party Studios’ series and formats include Sky Sports docuseries Scenes, Channel 4.0 hits Don’t Get Catfished, Find The… and Hear Me Out, the annual Sidemen Charity Match at Wembley Stadium and digital content supporting Netflix’s House of Guinness, Stranger Things and Being Gordon Ramsay. It has also worked on campaigns for the likes of Red Bull and Just Eat.

Its upcoming projects include In Search of Peace With Jordan Stephens for MTV U.K., Race to the Top, the docuseries following KSI’s takeover of Dagenham & Redbridge FC, and the ongoing social rollout of SNL U.K.ms digital series Five to Live for Sky One.

Said Sister CEO Lucinda Hicks: “The After Party Studios team occupies a unique space – a digital-native creative company driven by creator instincts and built on deep relationships with talent, brands and platforms and first-class execution. Our partnership enables them to continue to do what they do so brilliantly, originating groundbreaking IP, deepening direct relationships with audiences and shaping the next era of digital storytelling.”

McGinley and Doyle, co-founders of After Party Studios, said: “Over the last decade, we’ve built After Party Studios alongside some of the best talent in front of and behind the camera, making work that is creatively ambitious and always striving to push internet culture forward. We’ve always cared deeply about storytelling, craft and originality in a space that has historically rewarded the opposite, because we believe the future of entertainment is online. Joining the Sister family feels like a natural next step for us. Their track record of backing bold, distinctive storytelling makes them an ideal partner as we take the company into its next chapter. We’re hugely excited for what comes next and for the opportunity to build on everything we’ve created so far.”

Added Barnett, co-founder and CEO of After Party Studios: “This partnership with Sister combines our complementary strengths and shared creative ambition, opening up genuinely limitless possibilities. Together, we can continue pushing boundaries and pioneering where the industry goes next. I can’t wait to get this absolute game-changing next chapter underway.”

Sister has “always stood for excellence in storytelling in all its forms, enabling exceptional creative entrepreneurs to do their best work and where every company is additive to the whole,” said Murdoch, co-founder and executive chairman, and Featherstone, co-founder and chief creative officer of Sister. “Callum, Ben, Josh and their ridiculously talented team are exactly that – relevant, engaging storytellers committed to excellence and to connecting with audiences wherever they are.” They highlighted the the “many opportunities for new, impactful collaborations.”

The deal was brokered by Chris Fry, COO of Sister, Barnett, and Kevin Deeley, CFO for After Party Studios. After Party Studios was advised on the deal by Waypoint Partners. Sister was represented by CMS, and After Party Studios by Harbottle & Lewis.

Oliver Jones is set to exit Apple TV after six years and join Amazon MGM Studios as senior commissioner for U.K. scripted.

The studio’s vice president & head of international originals, Nicole Clemens, told her team about Jones’ appointment in an email on Monday. He’ll be working closely with Clemens on the commissioning of new U.K. scripted shows starting in May, and will relocate from L.A. back to London for the role. Commissioners Gemma Brandler and Punit Mattoo will report to Jones.

“It has been a privilege to work alongside my brilliant colleagues at Apple TV for the past six years, and to collaborate with the remarkable artists I was lucky enough to work with,” said Jones, whose credits as senior creative executive for international scripted television at the streamer include the Kurt Russell-starring Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ Masters of the Air with Austin Butler, Israeli spy series Tehran with Hugh Laurie, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett.

“It’s always a tough decision to leave a job I love, but the time is right to come back home and start a new adventure. Amazon MGM Studios’ commitment and momentum in telling ambitious, provocative, premium stories, together with the scale of their increased investment in the U.K., means it couldn’t be a more exciting moment to be joining Nicole and her phenomenal team.”

In Clemens’ email, she lauds the “incredible success” of the U.K.’s scripted slate at Amazon, including Robin Wright’s The Girlfriend, the Sophie Turner-led Steal as well as Harlan Coben’s Lazarus and Bait with Riz Ahmed.

“We’ve launched fan favorite and genre-defying series that have delighted customers not just in the U.K., but globally,” she wrote. “We also recently announced the greenlights for original police thriller Dirty from Matt Charman and an adaptation of Chloe Walsh’s BookTok Sensation Boys Of Tommen, and there’s much, much more to come.”

“With our huge commitment to the U.K., I’m delighted to inform you today that Oliver Jones will be joining us as Senior Commissioner for U.K. Scripted,” she continued. “Oliver is a seasoned scripted executive with a proven track record in developing premium international content.”

The appointment, she adds, “underscores our continued investment in world-class U.K. scripted programming as we expand our slate for U.K. and global audiences.”

Bang Si-hyuk, the founder and chairman of K-pop powerhouse Hybe — the agency home of supergroup BTS — is facing possible arrest after South Korean police moved Tuesday to secure a warrant for his detention in connection with an ongoing investigation into the company’s 2020 initial public offering.

According to reports across the Korean media, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s financial crimes investigation unit said it has booked Bang on charges of fraudulent and unfair trading and is moving to take him into custody. The agency alleges that he violated South Korea’s Capital Markets Act and secured roughly 190 billion won ($129 million) in illicit gains during Hybe’s IPO process.

At the heart of the case is a private equity arrangement that police allege was structured to mislead early Hybe investors. Seoul authorities have said Bang deceived early shareholders ahead of the agency’s listing by steering them to sell their stakes to a private equity fund linked to his associates — then received about 30 percent of the fund’s profits under a prior agreement after Hybe went public. Bang has previously denied any wrongdoing.

The move comes just a day after Seoul police commissioner Park Jung-bo said during a press briefing that the investigation into Bang was “essentially complete” and would be wrapped up soon. Bang has been barred from leaving South Korea since August of last year as the probe has progressed.

Hybe has not yet released a public response to Tuesday’s developments. The company’s shares fell as much as 2.9 percent in trading following news of the warrant request.

The probe dates to December 2024, when South Korea’s financial authorities began examining whether Bang had entered into undisclosed profit-sharing agreements ahead of Hybe’s IPO. Police raided Hybe’s Seoul headquarters in July 2025, and Bang voluntarily returned to South Korea the following month to cooperate. In December, the Seoul Southern District Court approved a provisional seizure of his Hybe shares worth 156.8 billion won (approximately $118 million).

The potential arrest represents an extraordinary moment for one of the most influential figures in the global music industry. Bang, 53, founded Big Hit Entertainment — Hybe’s predecessor — in 2005 after splitting from JYP Entertainment, where he had worked alongside founder Park Jin-young as one of the company’s first employees, earning the nickname “Hitman Bang” for his chart-topping prowess as a composer and producer. Big Hit had its ups and downs and even came close to bankruptcy in 2007 —before Bang reoriented the company around a promising new boy band he signed the following decade: BTS.

Following its debut in 2013, BTS went on to become the biggest pop act in the world, smashing barriers for East Asian entertainers and becoming the first Korean group to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band is now in the early stages of a sold-out global comeback tour in support of Arirang, its first album in nearly four years.

BTS’s commercial success has transformed Big Hit into a global pop empire. The company went public on the Korea Exchange in October 2020 in what was then South Korea’s largest IPO in three years, and rebranded as Hybe in 2021. Under Bang, the company has acquired a sprawling roster of local labels. In 2021, it paid $1.05 billion to acquire Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings, picking up Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande’s management rights. It has since added Atlanta hip-hop label Quality Control and moved into Latin music.

Today, Hybe is easily the most dominant force in K-pop. According to some local estimates, Bang’s Hybe stake alone is worth as much as 4.8 trillion won ($3.6 billion), making him the only self-made billionaire in the Korean entertainment industry.

Judy Greer is recalling when her Wedding Planner co-star Matthew McConaughey once came to her rescue.

During a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actress said she had gotten herself into a situation when she accidentally parked at an upscale hotel in New York City for the table read of the 2001 rom-com, starring McConaughey and Jennifer Lopez. Greer played Penny, the latter’s best friend in the film.

“I valeted my car; I didn’t know any better,” Greer said of when she arrived at the Roosevelt Hotel. “I didn’t have enough money to get my car out of the valet because I was so broke.”

She continued, “I was on the pay phone in the lobby, calling my friend Sean Gunn [Gilmore Girls and Guardians of the Galaxy actor], and Matthew McConaughey overheard me and gave me $20. I was so mortified, but also: my hero.”

The film, directed by Adam Shankman, follows Mary Fiore (Lopez), San Francisco’s most successful wedding planner, who books the biggest wedding of her career. But when she realizes she’s unknowingly fallen in love with the groom, Steve Edison (McConaughey), she has to decide if she’s going to help get him down the aisle to his fiancée or if she’ll finally get to be the bride.

When reflecting on her time filming The Wedding Planner, Greer said she remembers “how lovely Matthew McConaughey was. I loved seeing him in hair and makeup every morning, because he had pajamas on and a Yerba mate [tea]. I haven’t worked with him since, but I have a feeling not much has changed.”

After the film was a box office success, Greer went on to book roles in other rom-coms, including 13 Going on 30 and 27 Dresses.

Disney+ is making moves to boost its output of live-action originals from Japan, a longstanding ambition for the company’s Asia-Pacific content team that has been given greater urgency as the House of Mouse works to grow its streaming business worldwide.

The company unveiled a multi-year development deal on Tuesday with Tokyo-based production company The Seven, one of Netflix’s most frequent partners on Japanese-language films and series. Disney described the deal as a “long-term, ongoing content development collaboration.” The duration of the pact was not disclosed, nor were financial details.

“Since the launch of Disney+ in Japan, general entertainment and local originals have become an increasingly important part of our content offering, making this collaboration a natural evolution in accelerating our content investment,” said Carol Choi, Disney’s executive vp of original content strategy in APAC. “It builds on the strong relationships we’ve developed over time and represents a meaningful step forward in deepening our storytelling roots in Japan,” she added.

Under the framework, Disney’s content team will be embedded at the earliest stages of project development, working alongside The Seven’s producers to shape Japanese-language series exclusively for Disney+. The deal represents a notable shift for the platform in Japan, where it has typically acquired or co-produced titles on a project-by-project basis rather than locking in dedicated development partners.

The Seven was established in late 2021 as a subsidiary of TBS Holdings (Tokyo Broadcasting System Holdings), one of Japan’s major commercial broadcasters, with an initial investment of ¥30 billion (then approximately $205 million). Led by president and CEO Katsuaki Setoguchi and vice president and chief content officer Akira Morii, the company has become one of the country’s most prolific producers of live-action originals for the global streaming market. Its highest-profile credits have come through a five-year strategic partnership with Netflix, signed in 2022. Morii and his team produced the hit dystopian survival series Alice in Borderland and manga adaptation Yu Yu Hakusho, among other titles. The Seven also produced the upcoming jidaigeki series, Song of the Samurai, which was recently scooped up by HBO for release in May, and it has a co-development deal with Hollywood producer David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge, Face/Off) for film projects straddling the U.S.-Japan market.

The Disney deal positions The Seven as the rare Japanese production house with partnerships at two of the world’s dominant streamers — a reflection of how scarce experienced live-action producers with global ambition remain in Japan’s once stagnant but now fast-changing production landscape.

The agreement also comes at a moment of accelerating competition for Japanese content. Japan’s premium streaming sector grew 15 percent in 2025 to hit revenues of $7.2 billion, according to a recent report from Media Partners Asia (MPA). The country is estimated to be the world’s third-biggest premium streaming market by revenue, behind the U.S. and China (the latter of which does not permit foreign platform operators). According to MPA’s estimates in February, Netflix leads the Japanese market with a 22 percent share of premium VOD revenue, while Amazon Prime Video holds the largest subscriber base at 19.3 million (although the company’s flagship e-commerce offering is a major draw in Japan). Disney+ currently trails both significantly, commanding just 3 percent of total viewing hours, though it recently expanded its footprint through a joint bundle with Hulu Japan.

Simultaneously, global appetite for Japanese-themed content has surged in recent years. Anime has long been a youth-culture juggernaut, but live-action Japanese storytelling has also begun to break through in a major way — as witnessed with Disney’s own Shōgun, the samurai epic that swept the 2024 Emmys with a record-setting 18 wins, including best drama series. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said last year that Japanese titles on the platform have been viewed for a cumulative 25 billion hours, making them the second-most-watched form of non-English content globally, behind only Korean.

“I am confident that by unleashing the refined creativity of The Seven through Disney’s extensive network and expertise, we can evolve Japanese stories into the ‘next craze’ that people truly fall in love with,” said Katsuaki Setoguchi, CEO of The Seven.

Added Gaku Narita, Disney’s executive director of content production in Japan: “For our local production team, the focus is on developing stories that audiences will want to come back to again and again. This deal allows us to work closely with creators in Japan from the earliest stages of development, shaping projects that reflect local creativity while meeting the high bar of storytelling that Disney+ is committed to telling.”

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have won awards separately and together — most notably an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting — and they will reunite to pick up another honor next week in honor of Robin Williams.

The pair starred opposite the late legend in Gus Van Sant’s 1997 film, which also earned Williams an Academy Award for best supporting actor. And they will be making the trek up to San Francisco to receive the 9th Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter Award presented to them by Glenn Close‘s nonprofit, Bring Change to Mind, at the organization’s Revels & Revelations Celebration. The fundraiser is set to take place at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture on April 27.

Setting the stage for a special night, Affleck and Damon will be presented with their Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter Award by Robin’s children, Zak, Zelda and Cody Williams. It’s an honor designed to recognize “their impact and the power of storytelling and connection to spark real change.”

Affleck and Damon also released a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter about the news and their friend. “Robin wasn’t just someone we admired. He made our dreams come true. We owe everything to him. He said yes to our movie and we got it made. Receiving the Legacy of Laughter Award, created in honor of Robin Williams, is incredibly meaningful to us. His legacy isn’t just about his talent and how much he made the world laugh — it’s about how deeply he cared. This honor carries his spirit, and that means everything to us,” the duo said.

The event, a milestone moment for Bring Change to Mind as it celebrates 15 years of impact and a decade steering student programming, will also fete philanthropist Pam Baer with a Champion of Change Award to acknowledge her leadership in advancing mental health awareness. The event, supported by lead sponsor American Eagle Foundation, is also supported by individual, foundation and corporate donations. Per official details, it’s already sold out.

Founded by Close in 2010, BC2M is a national organization dedicated to ending the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness by working with leading scientists to make a difference in the lives of teens and adults. The cause is personal for Close as her sister, Jessie, lives with bipolar disorder and her nephew, Calen, lives with schizoaffective disorder. The Revels & Revelations Celebration was mounted as a “powerful night of storytelling, celebration and impact” by bringing together advocates, partners and community members under a shared mission of making sure that every young person feels “seen, supported and empowered” to talk openly about mental health.

Williams died by suicide at age 63 on Aug. 11, 2014. His work with the pair on Good Will Hunting left a lasting impact.

“It was the very first day of shooting and Ben and I went to the set. We weren’t working that day and we just saw them rehearse and we were kind of sitting off to the side of the camera,” Damon previously told E! “By the time they said, ‘Action,’ tears were just falling down my face. I couldn’t believe it. I was just looking at Robin start to speak and say these words that Ben and I had just worked on for five years.”

He continued: “After the scene ended, [Robin] came over to us and he saw us. He put his hand on our head and just said, you know, ‘It’s not a fluke. You guys really did this. You really did it.’”

After his passing, they both offered tributes. “Thanks chief — for your friendship and for what you gave the world,” Affleck shared on social media at the time. “Robin brought so much joy into my life and I will carry that joy with me forever,” Damon said in a statement. “He was such a beautiful man. I was lucky to know him and I will never, ever forget him.”

Prior recipients of the Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter Award include Amy Poehler and Ryan Reynolds. Affleck and Damon most recently teamed on The Rip for Netflix. Damon next toplines Christopher Nolan’s star-packed The Odyssey.

U.S. film and TV production in Canada rebounded in 2025 as the local industry finally put the devastating impact of Hollywood’s year of strikes in 2023 in the rearview mirror.

The latest annual economic report from the Canadian Media Producers Association, representing local indie producers, points to foreign location and service production in Canada, mostly by American producers, rising 9.5 percent to CAN$5.32 billion (US$3.9 billion, compared to a year-earlier CAN$4.86 billion.

That production activity includes visual effects work done by Canadian VFX studios for foreign films and TV series. Hollywood production growth was due mainly to TV series production rising 12.1 percent to CAN$3.42 billion (US$2.51 million) and the total volume of other foreign production – including TV movies, specials, pilots and single-episode shoots — increasing by 54.4 percent to CAN$366 million (US$268.2 million).

The overall increase in Hollywood TV production last year offset a 2.2 percent fall in foreign movie production across Canada. The major American players active north of the U.S. border continues to be led by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ as they center around production hubs in Toronto and Vancouver.

The big U.S. series to shoot in Canada last year included IT: Welcome to Derry, The Last of Us, Doc and Happy Face, while big budget movies to shoot in Canada included Frankenstein, Tron: Ares and Final Destination: Bloodlines.

Last year’s foreign production rebound was down, however, from the record CAN$6.62 billion in budgetary spending reached in 2023, just before the impact of the Hollywood actors and writers strike was felt by the Canadian industry as local soundstages went dark and production crews were left idle.

The Hollywood industry consolidation and the end of the Peak TV era is also working to reduce American production levels. U.S. film and TV production accounted for 398 projects in Canada last year, or 87 percent of overall foreign location shooting north of the U.S. border, with much of that concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia.

That compares to in all 425 U.S. film and TV series projects shot in Canada in 2024, which represented 86 percent of overall foreign production activity. The rebound in American production last year offset a 2.2 percent fall in local homegrown film and TV series production to $3.62 billion (US$2.65 billion), according to the CMPA report.

The overall volume of production in Canada rose last year by 4.6 percent to CAN$10.17 billion (US$7.54 billion, but that was 15.8 percent down on the peak of CAN$12.07 billion reached in 2023.