Tag: Entertainment-HollywoodReporter

Mark Ruffalo has shared his thoughts on James Cameron‘s letter in opposition to Netflix buying Warner Bros. Discovery, with the filmmaker instead sharing support for Paramount to acquire the company.

“So… the next question to Mr Cameron should be this… ‘Are you also against the monopolization that a Paramount acquisition would create? Or is it just that of Netflix?’” the four-time Oscar-nominated actor wrote on Threads Saturday. “I think the answer would be very interesting for the film community to hear and one that should be asked immediately. Is Mike Lee against the Paramount sale as well? Is he as concerned about that as he is the Netflix sale?”

Ruffalo concluded, “We all want to know .…Speaking on behalf of hundreds of thousands of film makers world wide.”

In Cameron’s letter, which is dated Feb. 10 but began making headlines on Thursday and was sent to to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), the Avatar director voiced concerns about the future of films being released in theaters if Netflix acquires Warner Bros.

“The business model of Netflix is directly at odds with the theatrical film production and exhibition business, which employs hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Cameron wrote “It is therefore directly at odds with the business model of the Warner Brothers movie division, one of the few remaining major movie studios.”

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos swiftly fired back against Cameron’s claims on Friday. “I’m particularly surprised and disappointed that James chose to be part of the Paramount disinformation campaign that’s been going on for months about this deal,” he said in an interview on Fox Business Network’s The Claman Countdown.

Sarandos also responded to Cameron’s claims that he plans to shift films to having a 17-day theatrical window. “I have never even uttered the words 17-day window. So I don’t know where it came from or why he would be part of that machine,” he added.

“Movies go into the theaters for 45 days, a healthy, robust slate of films every year, that is going to continue,” Sarandos said. “This deal is contingent on that for us to — for it to work.”

The Netflix co-CEO additionally sent Lee a letter in response to Cameron’s, where he wrote that the Titanic director “knowingly misrepresents our position and commitment to the theatrical release of Warner Bros. films.”

Michael Lynton, the former CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, is looking back on the 2014 film The Interview with deep regret.

In a recent excerpt from Lynton’s upcoming memoir From Mistakes to Meaning: Owning Your Past So It Doesn’t Own You, published recently in the Wall Street Journal, he opens up about how greenlighting The Interview, a dark comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco about a plan to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was the “biggest mistake of my career,” because it led to the infamous Sony hack.

Lynton was made aware on Nov. 17, 2014, by the head of IT reporting that 70 percent of Sony’s servers were irreparably damaged. Hackers released stolen emails that had confidential scripts and personal information. The FBI became involved with evidence suggesting that North Korea was most likely behind the attack to axe the release of the film.

The movie was pulled from the U.S.’s major theater chains ahead of its Dec. 25 release after threats from hacker groups implied that moviegoers would be in danger at screenings, The Hollywood Reporter reported at the time.

According to Lynton’s memoir, eight months after the FBI investigated the cyberattack, they knew that North Korea was behind it.

The fallout resulted in the studio having its relationships ruined with prominent industry figures, including Will Smith, Adam Sandler and Angelina Jolie. Former President Barack Obama even called Lynton to tell him, “What were you thinking when you made killing the leader of a hostile foreign nation a plot point? Of course that was a mistake.”

Lynton can now acknowledge that his biggest mistake was “my decision to greenlight a project on the fly.”

He admits that his motivation for allowing the film to be made in the first place stemmed from his “desire to belong” and from his care for the “opinions of others.”

“Just for a moment, I wanted to join the badass gang that made subversive movies,” Lynton wrote. “For a moment, I wanted to hang — as an equal — with the actors. I had grown tired of playing the responsible adult, of watching the party from the outside while I played Risk.”

He added, “My middle-school self took over, and my adult self lost the courage to disappoint the other kids. The party got out of hand, and the company, its employees, my family and I all paid dearly.”

President Donald Trump publicly encouraged Netflix to fire board member Susan Rice — “or pay the consequences.”

“Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences,” he wrote on Truth Social Saturday. “She’s got no talent or skills – Purely a political hack! HER POWER IS GONE, AND WILL NEVER BE BACK. How much is she being paid, and for what???”

The president’s post was accompanied by a screenshot of an X post made by Laura Loomer responding to Rice’s Thursday appearance on the Stay Tuned with Preet podcast. In Loomer’s social post, she wrote, “Netflix Board Member Susan Rice says corporations who took a ‘knee to Trump’ will face an ‘accountability agenda’ from elected Democrats if they win the midterms in 2026 and the 2028 Presidential election.”

In the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations’ interview with Preet Bharara, she said, “For those that decided that they would act in their perceived very narrow self interest, which I would underscore as very short-term self-interest, and take a knee to Trump, I think they are now starting to realize, ‘Wait a minute, this is not popular. Trump is not popular.’”

Bharara continued, “There is likely to be a swing in the other direction, and they are going to be caught with more than their pants down. They are going to be held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box.”

The “accountability agenda” Loomer pulled from Rice’s interview was said as follows: “There will be an accountability agenda. You know, companies already are starting to hear they better preserve their documents. They better be ready for subpoenas. If they’ve done something wrong, they’ll be held accountable, and if they haven’t broken the law, good for them.”

Loomer also slammed the potential Netflix-Warner Bros. merger in her post, writing, “If the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger is approved, positive messaging of the Democrats’ upcoming witch hunts against Trump from Barack Hussein Obama and his anti-White racist wife Michelle would likely be blasted across all streaming services as the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions continues to grow within Netflix.”

“The Netflix-Warner Bros. merger would result in a streaming monopoly, which the Obamas will have a significant stake in,” she continued, tagging both Trump and FCC chairman Brendan Carr in her post. “President Trump @POTUS must kill the Netflix-Warner Bros. merger now. @BrendanCarrFCC.”

Amid Netflix and Paramount Skydance’s battle to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Trump said in early February that he “shouldn’t be involved” in the fight for the company.

“I haven’t been involved,” Trump said. “I must say, I guess I’m considered to be a very strong president. I’ve been called by both sides. It’s the two sides, but I’ve decided I shouldn’t be involved. The Justice Department will handle it.”

Currently serving as a Netflix board member, Rice formerly served as the U.S. National Security Advisor from 2013-2017 and the Domestic Policy Advisor from 2021-2023.

If Hulu’s post-apocalyptic drama Paradise has a secret weapon, it’s This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman’s skill for provoking emotion. The new second season knows just how to get a viewer in their feelings, spilling tears over characters in the pits of despair, or joy as they rediscover lost pleasures, or warmth as lonely souls find camaraderie in dark days.

As the episodes wore on, however, I found other, less pleasant emotions starting to creep in as well. Frustration at the accumulation of little plot holes. Exasperation at intriguing storylines that fizzled into dead ends. While Paradise has always been more heart than head, the latest run prioritizes the former to such a degree that the entire thing feels out of whack.

For all its ambition and enormous cast, the first season of Paradise remained anchored to a single place (a city-sized bunker underneath Colorado) and organized around a single propulsive mystery (who killed James Marsden’s President Cal Bradford?). Sure, it was never as profound as it seemed to want to be — more often, it was like one of its own lugubrious covers of ’80s pop songs, silly fun trying to pass itself off as Classy and Serious — but it had an addictive momentum.

Then the finale saw Xavier (Sterling K. Brown), our Secret Service protagonist, preparing to fly out into the outside world. The narrative possibilities on both sides of the fortress walls seemed endless. What would Xavier find out there — his wife (Enuka Okuma’s Teri)? A desolate wasteland? New friends, or new foes? While he was gone, what would become of the home he was leaving behind? And with so many intriguing narrative options, how would Paradise pick a new path to go forward?

I’ll refrain from spoiling most of those questions, but on the last front I can tell you: It…doesn’t. The seven hours (of eight) sent to critics sprawl out in every direction, scattering existing characters on disjointed journeys while adding a slew of new ones. In all, the plot in the present day covers thousands of miles, while the flashbacks — so, so many flashbacks — span dozens of years.

There are some upsides to the broadened scope. It’s thrilling to get our first extended glimpse of life on the outside in the Glenn Ficarra and John Requa-directed premiere, which chronicles the experience of a tour guide (Shailene Woodley‘s Annie) riding out the end times in Elvis’ Graceland. The episode takes the time to get to know the lonely rhythm of her days before piercing the quiet with a roving band of scavengers, led by the charismatic Link (Thomas Doherty). Woodley, always a sensitive performer, plays Annie’s swirling emotions beautifully, as she moves from panic to resignation to bittersweet pleasure at getting to interact with other humans for the first time in ages.

Other chapters introduce a group of doomsday preppers who become a found family over years stuck in a basement and a band of orphaned children whose survival instincts have been honed at the cost of their innocence. (When an injured grown-up offers to read them a story, the shyest among them responds with a question: When the man dies, can he have his jacket?) At its most effective, Paradise‘s second season evokes the haunting beauty, though not the brutality, of HBO’s The Last of Us.

It’s enough to make you want to not sweat the small stuff, like, “Would it really take three years for someone to think to raid Graceland?” Or “Wouldn’t a tech genius come up with a better computer password than a four-digit code?” Or “Why does this character’s before-times ID have only their picture but not their name, thus defeating the entire purpose of an ID?” Who cares about such nitpicky details when we’re busy tearing up at Annie feeling alive again, or Xavier’s desperation to be reunited with Teri?

But as with greenhouse gases under apocalyptic clouds of ash, it’s the cumulative effect that screws you. A few inconsistencies are forgivable. Too many of them will eat away at the structural integrity of a season — especially if its foundations are already shaky.

One of the major trade-offs of Paradise’s newly expanded scale is a loss of focus. Without a single driving mystery, subplots like Cal’s angsty son Jeremy (Charlie Evans) mounting a youth rebellion are given so little oxygen that it’s easy to forget they exist at all, while compelling characters like Annie get abruptly sidelined once their utility has run out. More time is spent reminding us that we don’t know what characters like billionaire mastermind Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson) are really up to, than establishing why we’re meant to care.

Moment to moment, Paradise remains an engrossing experience, thanks in large part to the charm of its cast. But the plot makes less and less sense upon further reflection. Meanwhile, the overreliance on flashbacks to fill in character motivations and goals stalls the momentum, so that it starts to seem that Paradise is a collection of backstories loosely connected by a shared present, rather than an ongoing thriller enhanced by deeper context.

Even Fogelman’s knack for weepy emotionality turns out to have its limits. Season one managed the neat trick of humanizing the seemingly monstrous Billy (Jon Beaver) through — what else? — a tragic past. Season two tries to repeat the feat with a similarly shady character, but only manages to make her seem more alien. (This is an especially rough stretch for the female characters in general, who are treated with a “nice guy” chivalry that can look, in certain lights, a lot like condescension.)

This is a season that feels like it’s constantly in motion, yet never actually seems to get anywhere. Inadvertently, Paradise seems to have adopted the same philosophy to storytelling that Xavier’s son, as he explains in an overwritten but persuasively performed monologue, once took to his toys. “Maybe it’s not fun to play with trains that ride smoothly along their tracks,” Xavier muses of the boy’s thinking. “Maybe the thing that’s interesting about trains is the possibility that these huge metal contraptions could one day crash into one another.”

In season two, whatever destination Paradise was headed for seems to have been forgotten. Whatever bigger themes it once evoked (like the greed of megalomaniacal billionaires, or the complicity of powerful men) have fallen by the wayside. It’s just a collision of characters and ideas and subplots, resulting in the rubble — some of it salvageable and some of it less so — of something that used to run smoothly enough.

KPop Demon Hunters is unstoppable.

Netflix‘s come-from-nowhere global animation phenomenon swept this year’s Annie Awards, the animation honors handed out by the L.A. Branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood, taking 10 prizes, including best feature.

The pop musical, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, also won best direction, best music, best writing, best editorial and best voice acting for Arden Cho, who voices Rumi. It also swept the technical categories at the Annies, winning best FX, best character animation, best character design and best production design.

Netflix launched the Sony-produced KPop Demon Hunters last summer with little promotion or fanfare, but it became an overnight sensation and the streamer’s most-watched movie of all time, with a reported 481.6 million views worldwide in the second half of 2025.

KPop indie competitor at the Oscars, Ugo Bienvenu’s hand-drawn French feature Arco, won the prize for best independent feature at the Annies.

A number of past Annie Awards winners have gone on to win the best animated feature Oscar. The last Annie best feature winner to also triumph at the Academy Awards was Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in 2023. Last year, the Annie Awards’ top prize went to The Wild Robot. The Oscars opted for Annie best independent winner Flow.

In the television categories, notable winners included Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, which won in the best TV/media mature category; Hulu’s The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, winner of the best TV/media children honor; and Disney+’s Win Or Lose, which took the best limited series prize. Wow Lisa, a Spanish-language Chilean show, which combines 3D characters placed within scale-model, crafted backgrounds, won the Annie for best preschool series.

ASIFA-Hollywood presented its lifetime achievement honors, the Winsor McCay Award, to Dutch writer and director Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle), The Lego Movie and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs writer-directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord and writer-director Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, Wild Robot).

Sandy Rabins, an animation and live action producer, who was a driving force behind ASIFA-Hollywood’s AnimAID, which provided assistance and support for those in the animation industry who were affected by the L.A. wildfires, received the June Foray Award for “significant and benevolent impact to the animation community.”

The Ub Iwerks Award for technical advancement affecting the animation industry went to Japanese company Wacom, manufacturer of the Cintiq graphics tablet, which has become the industry standard for professional 2D animation, storyboarding and concept art.

Animation fair LightBox Expo received a special achievement award for bringing “the creative animation community of filmmakers together with animation students and fans.” The ASIFA-Hollywood Merit Award is given by the board of directors to individuals for current and on-going service to the organization and the animation industry went to Jeffrey New and Haley Mirren Douthit.

Full list of 2026 Annie Award Winners:

BEST FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST FEATURE – INDEPENDENT
Arco
Remembers, MountainA France, France 3 Cinéma

BEST SPECIAL PRODUCTION
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical
WildBrain Studios in association with Apple

BEST SHORT SUBJECT
Snow Bear
The Art of Aaron Blaise

BEST SPONSORED
Olipop Yeti
Screen Novelties & Passion Pictures

BEST TV/MEDIA – PRESCHOOL
Wow Lisa
Episode: Rainy Day
Punkrobot

BEST TV/MEDIA – CHILDREN
The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball
Episode: The Rewrite
Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe

BEST TV/MEDIA – MATURE
Common Side Effects
Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment and Williams Street Productions

BEST TV/MEDIA – LIMITED SERIES
Win Or Lose
Episode: Home
Pixar Animation Studios

BEST STUDENT FILM
A Sparrow’s Song
Tobias Eckerlin
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH

BEST FX – TV/MEDIA
Edward Ferrysienanda, Kevin Christensen, Guy Schuleman, Benedikt Roettger, Kevin Tarpinian
Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age
Episode: The Big Freeze
BBC Studios Natural History Unit
FX: Framestore

BEST FX – FEATURE
Filippo Macari, Nicola Finizio, Simon Corbaux, Naoki Kato, Daniel La Chapelle
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix
FX: Sony Pictures Imageworks

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA
Alli Sadegiani
Win Or Lose
Pixar Animation Studios

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE
Ryusuke Furuya
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation, Netflix

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – LIVE ACTION
Kayn Garcia, Jean-Denis Haas, Meena Ibrahim, Nathan McConnel, Nick Tripodi
How To Train Your Dragon
DreamWorks Animation
FX: Framestore

BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – VIDEO GAME
Mike Jungbluth, Sebastien Dussault, Vincent Schneider, Remi Edmond
South of Midnight
Compulsion Games

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Robert Valley
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: 400 Boys
Blur Studio for Netflix

BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE
Scott Watanabe, Ami Thompson
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST DIRECTION – TV/MEDIA
Vincent Tsui
Common Side Effects
Episode: Cliff’s Edge
Productions

BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE
Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST MUSIC – TV/MEDIA
Ramin Djawadi, Shane Eli, Johnny Pakfar
Win Or Lose
Episode: Episode 6, Mixed Signals
Pixar Animation Studios

BEST MUSIC – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters Music Team
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – TV/MEDIA
Gigi Cavenago
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
Blur Studio for Netflix

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE
Helen Chen, Dave Bleich, Wendell Dalit, Scott Watanabe, Celine Kim
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST STORYBOARDING – TV/MEDIA
Edgar Martins
Love, Death + Robots
Episode: How Zeke Got Religion
Blur Studio for Netflix

BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE
Anthony Holden, Young Ki Yoon
The Bad Guys 2
DreamWorks Animation

BEST VOICE ACTING – TV/MEDIA
Dan Mintz (as Tina Belcher)
Bob’s Burgers
Episode: Don’t Worry Be Hoopy
20th Television Animation

BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE
Arden Cho (as Rumi)
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST WRITING – TV/MEDIA
Joe Bennett, Steve Hely
Common Side Effects
Episode: Pilot
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions

BEST WRITING – FEATURE
Danya Jimenez, Hannah McMechan, Maggie Kang, Chris Appelhans
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA
Tony Christopherson, Joie Lim
Common Side Effects
Episode: Raid
Green Street Pictures, Bandera Entertainment, and Williams Street Productions

BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE
KPop Demon Hunters Editorial Team
KPop Demon Hunters
Sony Pictures Animation for Netflix

WINSOR McCAY AWARD
Michaël Dudok de Wit
Christopher Miller
Phil Lord
Chris Sanders

JUNE FORAY AWARD
Sandy Rabins

UB IWERKS AWARD
Wacom

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
LightBox Expo

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD MERIT AWARD
Jeffrey New
Haley Mirren Douthit

Broadway is cancelling most evening performances on Feb. 22 as New York City is set to experience a blizzard and receive between 16 and 24 inches of snow. 

Productions with matinees that begin at 3 p.m. ET Sunday or earlier, however, will proceed as scheduled. The cancellation is expected to impact productions such as Oh, Mary!, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, Chicago, The Book of Mormon, Wicked, & Juliet and All Out: Comedy About Ambition.

Operation Mincemeat was initially expecting to go forward with its 7:30 p.m. ET performance, but canceled it midday Sunday. The show was set to be the final performances of original cast members David Cumming, Claire-Marie Hall, Natasha Hodgson, Jak Malone and Zoë Roberts. The cast has opted to livestream a concert of all the musical numbers from the show starting at 5:30 p.m. ET.

The cancellation comes after New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in New York City and surrounding areas. The National Weather Service has issued a Blizzard Warning beginning 1 p.m. ET Sunday through 6 p.m. ET Monday, as the city is expected to experience snowfall rates of up to two inches per hour, powerful wind gusts and whiteout conditions. Some nearby counties have issued travel bans for the evening, and New York City has issued a ban on non-essential vehicles after 9 p.m. ET, which would also impact Broadway attendance.

The cancellation of Broadway shows on Sunday came via the Broadway League, the industry’s trade association of producers and theater owners, though the decision was made by the individual shows. Broadway faced a large amount of uproar from cast and crew members about a month ago, when New York City was under a similar state of emergency due to snow, but there was no industrywide cancellation of shows. This meant cast and crew had to commute in amid the snowstorm. The move to cancel across the industry is rare, as it can lead to hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue for each show.

Some shows are making the most of the inclement weather. Bug, a play starring Carrie Coon and Namir Smallwood, is selling $45 tickets for all remaining seats of the 2 p.m. matinee.

2/22 10 AM PT: The story has been updated to reflect that Operation Mincemeat has now canceled its evening performance.

It was the weekend of the haves and the have-nots at the domestic box office.

In the “haves” column are holdovers GOAT, from Sony Pictures Animation, and Warner Bros.’ Margot Robbie-Jacob Elordi starrer Wuthering Heights. On Saturday, early estimates showed the two in a close race for first place with a projected $13 million to $15 million each.

But GOAT, thanks to pent-up demand among families, mowed down the competition to top the North American chart with an estimated $17.2 million from 3,842 theaters for a domestic cume of $58.3 million. Globally, it cleared the $100 million mark as its foreign tally rose to $44 million from 41 markets (it is rolling out much more slowly overseas, where it has yet to open in 30 percent of the marketplace). The pic is another win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and Oscar nominee KPop: Demon Hunters.

Filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s unconventional adaptation of the Emily Brontë novel Wuthering Heights is also a win. It earned an estimated $14.2 million from 3,682 locations to come in second domestically, but won the weekend overseas among Hollywood fare with $26.3 million from 77 markets for an impressive global haul of $152 million, including $60 million domestically and $91.7 million internationally.

Last weekend, Wuthering Heights prevailed over GOAT in winning the long Valentine’s Day/Presidents Day frame with $32.8 million for the three-day weekend proper and $37.5 million for the four days (it was the ninth WB release to open at No. 1, possibly a record feat). It also did better than expected at the foreign box office, launching to $45.5 million from 77 marketsfor a global start of $83 million.

GOAT opened to $35 million domestically over the four-day holiday in North America, including roughly $26 million for the three days. Overseas, it launched in its first 42 territories.

Among a crowded herd of newcomers this weekend, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s faith-based sequel I Can Only Imagine 2 easily came in third with an estimated $8 million from 3,105 cinemas after earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences. While that’s a solid start, it’s roughly half as much as the original 2018 film opened to in the pre-pandemic era.

Baz Luhrmann‘s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is off to a rousing start in its limited debut in 325 Imax screens after earning glowing marks from both critics and audiences. From Neon, the concert doc took in an estimated $3.3 million domestically to crack the top 10 chart before it expands nationwide. It made an additional $1.1 million in select Imax screens offshore. Luhrmann — who also directed the acclaimed biopic Elvis starring Austin Butler — painstakingly restored 59 hours of unseen footage from the Warner Bros. archives, including discarded material from two ‘70s concert films.

Elvis Presley in Concert came in only a tad behind A24’s Glen Powell-starrer How to Make a Killing despite playing in far fewer cinemas. Billed as a black comedy, How to Make a Killing debuted to an unimpressive $3.5 million from 1,625 locations after getting dinged by many critics. Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris and Topher Grace also star in John Patton Ford’s reimagining of the classic British film Kings and Coronets.

And New Regency’s long-gestating Psycho Killer is DOA with an estimated $1.6 million start from 1,100 theaters. The slasher pic, which is helmed by veteran producer Gavin Polone in his feature directorial debut, couldn’t crack the top 10 after getting beat out by Avatar: Fire and Ash, which earned an estimated $1.8 million in its 10th weekend.

Psycho Killer‘s current critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is zero from 21 reviews, including this review from The Hollywood Reporter. The audience score isn’t much better (33 percent). Disney is distributing the film via 20th’s long-standing relationship with New Regency.

Among holdovers in the upper reaches of the chart, Amazon MGM Studios’ Crime 101 came in fourth in its sophomore outing with $6.2 million from 3,161 locations for a domestic tally of $24.7 million and $46.3 million globally.

20th Century’s R-rated Send Help continued to display staying power in its fourth weekend, earning $4.5 million from 2,800 locations to round out the top five for a domestic total of $55.5 million.

Angel Studio’s Kevin James-vehicle Solo Mio tumbled to No. 8 behind Elvis, earning $2.6 million from 2,300 theaters for a 10-day domestic tally of $21.8 million.

Disney’s film empire has two other films in the top 10, including Zootopia 2. The mega-animated hit celebrated yet another milestone this weekend when passing up Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch to become the No. 2 domestic release of 2025 with a domestic total of $423.9 million through Sunday. And James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash is on the verge of jumping the $400 million mark domestically for 20th Century as it finishes its 10th weekend with a global haul of $1.47 billion, including $399.4 million in North America. Like the Avatar threequel, Zootopia 2 opened over the Christmas holidays on its way to becoming the year’s top Hollywood release worldwide, as well as the top-grossing animated film of all time, not adjusted for inflation.

At the specialty box office, Focus Features’ Oscar contender Hamnet is approaching the $100 million mark globally. While finishing Sunday with a respectable domestic total of $23.1 million, it is waxing poetic overseas, where it continues to roll out timed to the upcoming Academy Awards. Through Sunday, it has grossed nearly $65 million at the foreign box office for a global total nearing $88 million. Universal International is handling the film in most markets and is responsible for a lion’s share of ticket sales, or $63.8 million. To date, it is pacing ahead of previous best picture nominees Conclave and Poor Things at the same point in time, while already surpassing the lifetime international gross of The Favourite.

Feb. 22, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.

This story was orignally published February 21 at 9:54 a.m.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s political thriller One Battle After Another won six honors at the BAFTA Film Awards on Sunday, with Ryan Coogler’s vampire horror drama Sinners earning three, setting a record for the most honors for a movie from a Black filmmaker. And Kirk Jones’ Tourette Syndrome advocate dramedy I Swear stunned the crowd at the ceremony, hosted by Alan Cumming, the presenter and producer of The Traitors U.S., at London’s Royal Festival Hall, winning two honors voted on by the industry and a third one voted on by the public.

The film’s star, Robert Aramayo, in fact, left the event with two statuettes, one for Rising Star, the other for best actor, a star-studded category, in which his win was met with audible gasps by the audience. The other award for I Swear came in the best casting category.

The BAFTA nominations had set up a thrill ride for the British Academy honors, with One Battle After Another earning 14 nods, narrowly edging out Sinners with 13, and Chloé Zhao’s Shakespearean heartbreaker Hamnet and Josh Safdie’s ping-pong caper Marty Supreme with 11 nods each.

At the end of the night, One Battle After Another could celebrate half a dozen BAFTAs, namely for best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, editing, as well as best supporting actor Sean Penn.

The best supporting actress honor on Sunday went to Wunmi Mosaku for Sinners, which was also honored with the best original screenplay BAFTA for Coogler and the best original score award. Sinners followed up its record as the most-nominated film by a Black director in the British Academy’s history with a record three wins. Coogler also became the first Black winner of an original screenplay BAFTA on Sunday.

Three BAFTAs also went to Frankenstein, namely for production design, costumes, and make-up & hair. And Hamnet was honored twice, as the Outstanding British Film of the year, with star Jessie Buckley also winning the best leading actress award.

At the BAFTA Film Awards 2025, Conclave (best film) and The Brutalist (best director and actor) had won four honors each.

BAFTA chair Sara Putt opened the 2026 festivities Sunday night, lauding this year’s nominees and thanking them for providing audiences with “windows into other worlds and sometimes, yes, a respite from this one.” And she touted the excellence they have shown, “no algorithms involved.”

A pre-recorded sketch, starring Cumming discussing marketing ideas for the BAFTAs on a video call with Brian Cox, Warwick Davis, Ken Jeong, Jacobi Jupe, Hannah Waddingham, dog LaLa, a muted and video-less Leo DiCaprio, and Paddington Bear then opened the entertainment portion of the night.

In his opening monologue, Cumming ran through the topics covered by this year’s nominees. “Whatever happened to escapism? I’m exhausted,” he concluded. “It’s almost as though, I don’t know, there are events going on in the real world that are influencing filmmakers. Anyone else, like you Americans in particular?” Cumming then invited everyone in attendance to join him in a collective primal scream at world events.

Director David Borenstein accepted the honor for best documentary for his Mr. Nobody Against Putin with another U.S. reference, saying: “No matter how dark things get, whether in Russia or on the streets of Minneapolis, we always face a moral choice.”

Among other political comments during Sunday’s ceremony, My Father’s Shadow director Akinola Davies Jr., who won the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer honor with his writer and brother Wale Davies, ended his acceptance speech with the words, “Free Palestine!”

Also on Sunday, Clare Binns, the creative director of Picturehouse Cinemas and Picturehouse Entertainment and “a driving force in the distribution of films in the U.K.,” was honored with the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award at the ceremony. The world needs more neighborhood cinemas, she told the BAFTA crowd. And she lauded the late Robert Redford for founding the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, saying: “He knew that above all, we should be prepared to take risks.”

And Donna Langley, the NBCUniversal Entertainment chair and the first British woman to run a major Hollywood studio, received the BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy’s highest honor, telling the audience that “decency is a superpower.” 

At the end of a big BAFTA Awards night for One Battle After Another, director Paul Thomas Anderson, who had received a standing ovation, lauded the strong movies of the past year and had this message for people who say movies are no good anymore: “You can p*** right off!”

Check out the full 2026 BAFTA honors in London below. The winners are highlighted in bold in all announced categories.

Best Film
HAMNET Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes 
MARTY SUPREME Timothée Chalamet, Anthony Katagas, Eli Bush, Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Adam Somner, Sara Murphy, Paul Thomas Anderson 
SENTIMENTAL VALUE Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar 
SINNERS Zinzi Coogler, Sev Ohanian, Ryan Coogler 

Leading Actress 
JESSIE BUCKLEY Hamnet 
ROSE BYRNE If I Had Legs I’d Kick You 
KATE HUDSON Song Sung Blue 
CHASE INFINITI One Battle After Another 
RENATE REINSVE Sentimental Value 
EMMA STONE Bugonia 

Leading Actor 
ROBERT ARAMAYO I Swear 
TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET Marty Supreme 
LEONARDO DICAPRIO One Battle After Another 
ETHAN HAWKE Blue Moon 
MICHAEL B. JORDAN Sinners 
JESSE PLEMONS Bugonia 

Director
BUGONIA Yorgos Lanthimos 
HAMNET Chloé Zhao 
MARTY SUPREME Josh Safdie 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Paul Thomas Anderson 
SENTIMENTAL VALUE Joachim Trier 
SINNERS Ryan Coogler 

EE Rising Star Award (voted for by the public)  
Robert Aramayo 
Miles Caton 
Chase Infiniti 
Archie Madekwe 
Posy Sterling 

Outstanding British Film
28 YEARS LATER Danny Boyle, Andrew Macdonald, Peter Rice, Bernard Bellew, Alex Garland 
THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND James Griffiths, Rupert Majendie, Tom Basden, Tim Key  
BRIDGET JONES: MAD ABOUT THE BOY Michael Morris, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Jo Wallett, Helen Fielding, Dan Mazer, Abi Morgan 
DIE MY LOVE Lynne Ramsay, Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Cirrocchi, Andrea Calderwood, Enda Walsh, Alice Birch 
H IS FOR HAWK Philippa Lowthorpe, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Emma Donoghue 
HAMNET Chloé Zhao, Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Gonda, Steven Speilberg, Sam Mendes, Maggie O’Farrell 
I SWEAR Kirk Jones, Georgia Bayliff, Piers Tempest 
MR BURTON Marc Evans, Ed Talfan, Josh Hyams, Hannah Thomas, Trevor Matthews, Tom Bullough 
PILLION Harry Lighton, Emma Norton, Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe 
STEVE Tim Mielants, Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Max Porter 

Film Not in the English Language 
IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT Jafar Panahi, Philippe Martin  
THE SECRET AGENT Kleber Mendonça Filho, Emilie Lesclaux 
SENTIMENTAL VALUE Joachim Trier, Maria Ekerhovd, Andrea Berentsen Ottmar 
SIRĀT Oliver Laxe, Domingo Corral 
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB Kaouther Ben Hania, Nadim Cheikhrouha 

Costume Design 
FRANKENSTEIN Kate Hawley 
HAMNET Malgosia Turzanska 
MARTY SUPREME Miyako Bellizzi 
SINNERS Ruth E. Carter 
WICKED: FOR GOOD Paul Tazewell 

Adapted Screenplay 
THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND Tom Basden, Tim Key 
BUGONIA Will Tracy 
HAMNET Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Paul Thomas Anderson 
PILLION Harry Lighton 

Original Score
BUGONIA Jerskin Fendrix 
FRANKENSTEIN Alexandre Desplat 
HAMNET Max Richter 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Jonny Greenwood 
SINNERS Ludwig Göransson 

Sound
F1 Gareth John, Al Nelson, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Gary A. Rizzo, Juan Peralta 
FRANKENSTEIN Greg Chapman, Nathan Robitallie, Nelson Ferreira, Christian Cooke, Brad Zoem 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Jose Antonio Garcia, Christopher Scarabosio, Tony Villaflor 
SINNERS Chris Welcker, Benny Burtt, Brandon Proctor, Steve Boeddeker, Felipe Pacheco  
WARFARE Glenn Freemantle, Mitch Low, Ben Barker, Howard Bargroff, Richard Spooner 

Cinematography  
FRANKENSTEIN Dan Laustsen 
MARTY SUPREME Darius Khondji 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Michael Bauman 
SINNERS Autumn Durald Arkapaw 
TRAIN DREAMS Adolpho Veloso 

Animated Film
ELIO Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina, Mary Alice Drumm 
LITTLE AMÉLIE Mailys Vallade, Liane-Cho Han, Nidia Santiago, Edwina Liard, Claire Le Combe, Henri Magalon 
ZOOTROPOLIS 2 Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino 

Editing 
F1 Stephen Mirrione 
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE Kirk Baxter 
MARTY SUPREME Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Andy Jurgensen 
SINNERS Michael P. Shawver 

Casting
I SWEAR Lauren Evans 
MARTY SUPREME Jennifer Venditti 
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Cassandra Kulukundis 
SENTIMENTAL VALUE Yngvill Kolset Haga, Avy Kaufman 
SINNERS Francine Maisler 

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer  
THE CEREMONY Jack King (Director, Writer), Hollie Bryan (Producer), Lucy Meer (Producer) 
MY FATHER’S SHADOW Akinola Davies Jr. (Director), Wale Davies (Writer) 
PILLION Harry Lighton (Director, Writer)  
A WANT IN HER Myrid Carten (Director) 
WASTEMAN Cal McMau (Director), Hunter Andrews (Writer), Eoin Doran (Writer) 

Original Screenplay 
I SWEAR Kirk Jones 
MARTY SUPREME Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie 
THE SECRET AGENT Kleber Mendonça Filho  
SENTIMENTAL VALUE Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier 
SINNERS Ryan Coogler 

British Short Animation
CARDBOARD J.P. Vine, Michaela Manas Malina 
SOLSTICE Luke Angus 
TWO BLACK BOYS IN PARADISE Baz Sells, Dean Atta, Ben Jackson  
 
British Short Film 
MAGID / ZAFAR Luis Hindman, Sufiyaan Salam, Aidan Robert Brooks 
NOSTALGIE Kathryn Ferguson, Stacey Gregg, Marc Robinson, Kath Mattock 
TERENCE Edem Kelman, Noah Reich 
THIS IS ENDOMETRIOSIS Georgie Wileman, Matt Houghton, Harriette Wright 
WELCOME HOME FRECKLES Huiju Park, Nathan Hendren 

Documentary
2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath 
APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino 
COVER-UP Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, Olivia Streisand, Yoni Golijev 
MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN David Borenstein, Helle Faber, Radovan Síbrt, Alžběta Karásková 
THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR Geeta Gandbhir, Alisa Payne, Nikon Kwantu, Sam Bisbee 

Make-up & Hair
FRANKENSTEIN Jordan Samuel, Cliona Furey, Mike Hill, Megan Many 
HAMNET Nicole Stafford 
MARTY SUPREME Kyra Panchenko, Kay Georgiou, Mike Fontaine 
SINNERS Siân Richards, Shunika Terry, Ken Diaz, Mike Fontaine 
WICKED: FOR GOOD Frances Hannon, Laura Blount, Mark Coulier, Sarah Nuth 

Production Design 
FRANKENSTEIN Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau 
HAMNET Fiona Crombie, Alice Felton 
MARTY SUPREME Jack Fisk, Adam Willis  
ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino 
SINNERS Hannah Beachler, Monique Champagne 

Children’s & Family Film 
ARCO Ugo Bienvenu, Félix De Givry, Sophie Mas, Natalie Portman 
BOONG Lakshmipriya Devi, Ritesh Sidhwani 
LILO & STITCH Dean Fleischer Camp, Jonathan Eirich 
ZOOTROPOLIS 2 Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino

Supporting Actor 
BENICIO DEL TORO One Battle After Another 
JACOB ELORDI Frankenstein 
PAUL MESCAL Hamnet 
PETER MULLAN I Swear 
SEAN PENN One Battle After Another 
STELLAN SKARSGÅRD Sentimental Value 

Supporting Actress
ODESSA A’ZION Marty Supreme 
INGA IBSDOTTER LILLEAAS Sentimental Value 
WUNMI MOSAKU Sinners 
CAREY MULLIGAN The Ballad of Wallis Island 
TEYANA TAYLOR One Battle After Another 
EMILY WATSON Hamnet 

Special Visual Effects
AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Eric Saindon  
F1 Ryan Tudhope, Keith Alfred Dawson, Nicolas Chevallier, Robert Harrington 
FRANKENSTEIN Dennis Berardi, Ayo Burgess, Ivan Busquets, José Granell 
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON Christian Mänz, Francois Lambert, Glen McIntosh, Terry Palmer 
THE LOST BUS Charlie Noble, Brandon K. McLaughlin, David Zaretti