Johnson, who voiced Maui in the original 2016 animated film Moana and its 2024 follow-up, recently spoke to People magazine about how the movie’s early reviews started positively before the reception shifted.
“Our first two reviews came out. I’ll never forget it… They were amazing. I was like, wow,” the actor recalled, before adding that then “it went another way — as sometimes happens. That’s just the way it goes because we’re in this business.”
The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic, David Rooney, did, however, give the film a favorable review, calling it “one of Disney’s better live-action remakes.” He added, “The new Moana is a captivating family entertainment that deserves to find an audience.”
The live-action Moana, released in theaters last month, earned a 31 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, while its audience score was significantly higher at 88 percent.
The Smashing Machine star added that he and his wife, Lauren Hashian, had many conversations about the response. “The challenge was, OK, let’s remember, though, what’s going to be beyond this opening weekend. Let’s remember what’s happening right now and the noise that’s happening right now,” he said.
“If you love it, great. If you don’t, no problem,” the Jumanji actor said. But what meant the most to him was that “the culture really stood up,” as Johnson is of Samoan heritage.
“Because of me and our kids who can now look at the big screen and go, ‘That’s us for the first time on a big screen. That’s us up there. How cool is that?’,” he said.
Catherine Laga’aia starred in the title role, taking over from Auliʻi Cravalho, who voiced the character in the animated films. Johnson reprised his role as Maui in the live-action adaptation.
The federal film and television tax credit has a new lobbyist, it seems.
Reality TV star and former L.A. mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt on Friday posted on social media that he had recently met President Donald Trump to advocate for the tax incentive. This legislative effort has been stop-and-start for well over a year.
“Working with the President on a 25% FEDERAL film tax credit to bring back Hollywood,” the former The Hills star said, sharing images of himself and the president speaking at the Trump National Golf Course Los Angeles. After making a few accusations about California’s film commissioner and Attorney General Rob Bonta, he added, “The adults in the room are actually trying to repatriate the most quintessential American industry. I’m committed to saving Hollywood, and I’m very grateful for the President’s remarkable generosity and focus on this issue.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the White House for comment. A representative for Pratt declined to comment further.
A large coalition of industry advocates and organizations, from the Motion Picture Association to industry unions to President Trump’s “special ambassador” to Hollywood Jon Voight, has long been championing the idea of a stackable incentive for films and TV series produced in the U.S. Several sources in this cohort reached on Friday said they didn’t believe Pratt was working in coalition with the larger group.
The idea has bipartisan support, as THR previously wrote, with Rep. Laura Friedman of California and Rep. Brian Jack of Georgia emerging as key backers of the potential legislation in the House. Sen. Adam Schiff has long been a proponent in the Senate. It’s unclear, however, whether Pratt is advocating for the same kind of credit as they are.
After becoming an outspoken critic of politicians’ responses to the 2025 Palisades Fire, Pratt ran for L.A. mayor earlier in the year on a populist platform, gaining the support of President Trump along the way. After his defeat, Pratt has emerged as a vocal detractor of a lawsuit from 12 state attorneys general aiming to block the $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
He has claimed that California Gov. Gavin Newsom and attorney general Bonta are attempting to “cripple two of the greatest film studios of all time over politics.” (Newsom has not weighed in on the suit publicly yet, though a Wall Street Journal report in early August suggested he was concerned about the impact on state employment if the merger were blocked.)
Now, it appears, the TV personality has turned his attention to legislative efforts to boost the entertainment industry. Said Pratt in his social media post, “He [Trump] is very passionate about revitalizing the entertainment industry and we will not let Canada, or the U.K. or Budapest steal our lunch anymore.”
Pratt’s advocacy for a federal tax credit arrives after Paramount Skydance head David Ellison made headlines for traveling to Washington to lobby Republicans on the idea.
Can the involvement of Pratt, a registered Republican, and other conservatives finally enthuse the president on the long-gestating idea? Only time will tell. In the meantime, below Pratt’s post on Instagram, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted two raising hands emojis.
Original Wizards of Waverly Place star Jake T. Austin is sharing his feelings on not being invited to partake in the revival series days after its series finale.
“To all the Wizards fans, just wanted to say for the record how disappointed I am to have not been included in the spinoff,” Austin wrote on his Instagram Story on Thursday, per People. “I was asked back in 2020 if I was interested in reprising my role and said that I was 100% in. Unfortunately, the powers that be decided to take the show in a different direction and my character wasn’t part of the equation.”
He continued, “Even though I wasn’t involved, I still have nothing but love for my former castmates and wish them continued success. Thank you to all the fans who watched over the years. The show wouldn’t be what it is without your endless support.”
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place debuted in 2024 and ran for three seasons, finishing out its last installment on Tuesday. Austin, Selena Gomez and David Henrie starred in the Disney Channel series from 2007-2012, where they led the series as the wizardous Russo siblings.
Both Russo siblings, portrayed by Gomez and Henrie, returned for the revival and executive produced the series. Their onscreen parents, David DeLuise and Maria Canals-Barrera, also reprised their roles.
Austin’s claims contrast with what Henrie told TV Insider in a Wednesday interview. When asked if the actor was asked back, Henrie said, “He definitely was. Yeah. He’s busy.”
“He’s got a lot going on in his life,” he added. “We love him and wish him all the best with everything that he’s got going on in his life.”
In Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, it’s explained that Austin’s Max turned their family Waverly Sub Station shop into a billion-dollar franchise, with his character now living on a yacht.
Six women roam the neon-lit city of Paris after dark. Over the course of a single night, their journeys intertwine reality, dreams and fiction. Whether at bus stops or corner shops, in restrooms or in bars, they give voice to their dreams, sexual desires and uncertainties about the future. Welcome to British filmmaker and artist Beatrice Gibson’s full-length feature debut, an experimental and “autofictional” film called, simply, At Night.
The movie will world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival on Saturday, Aug. 8, in the Filmmakers of the Present competition program of the Swiss fest’s 79th edition, which runs Aug. 5-15.
Written and directed by Gibson, At Night features cinematography by her long-time collaborator Ben Rivers and editing by Liyo Gong. The film is produced by Somesuch and Norte Productions.
“A filmmaker struggles to understand the film she is making,” a synopsis says about the women we meet in At Night. “A Black single mother refuses the categories imposed on her. A former sex worker reflects on her past. A poet gives up trying for a child.”
The film features an array of Gibson’s non-professional actor friends and influences as they discuss and explore such topics as sexuality, money, motherhood and mental health. “This isn’t simply a feminist story, but a love letter to friendships, relationships, and the quiet yet poignant stories women share together but rarely to an audience,” the press notes highlight.
A thread that runs through the movie is poetry, with U.S. poet Alice Notley reciting one of her own poems for the film, recorded just months before her death in 2025. Inspired by her writings and the texts of such other cult literary figures as June Jordan and Kathy Acker, Gibson takes us on nocturnal searches for answers.
‘At Night,’ courtesy of Night Films
Courtesy of Night Films Ltd.
“I was interested in the structure of the journey, of a woman just walking through the night,” explains Gibson. The idea for At Night came to her after she read two feminist takes on the epic quest narrative, namely Notley’s book-length poem, The Descent of Alette (1992) and Acker’s gender-flipped knight’s tale, Don Quixote, Which Was a Dream (1986).
But scenes and narratives also emerged from the creative’s thinking about the kinds of encounters and conversations that can only take place at night. “Who really occupies the night? And what kinds of labor take place there?” she wondered. That is why At Night also features “undervalued work done by those who keep the city fed, clean, and moving,” according to the press notes.
“My casting process is one I’ve developed over time and is folded into the writing process. I don’t follow the traditional structure in which I’m writing and then casting,” Gibson explains. Instead, she casts her characters first, thinking about who might produce an interesting performance, and then collaborates with them to develop the material.
“It’s a collectively written film, in many ways,” Gibson emphasizes. “People write their own material for their scenes, depending on what they want to develop.” She concludes: “It’s autofiction really, so generating that material is a delicate and sensitive process, and it takes a lot of time and revision. People need to feel comfortable with what they’ve authored, where it’s placed and with whom it’s in dialogue. It’s quite a deep process.”
No surprise then that it took six years to make At Night.
As with all of Gibson’s work, the film emphasizes a working process that is collaborative and improvisatory. “I’m utopian at heart,” Gibson says. “I wanted to make a film about trying to be together at a time when everyone is divided. Maybe it was a naive and misguided thing to do, although, that said, I would do it again.”
That theme of being together also applies to Gibson appearing in front of the camera in At Night. As for her decision to do so, she says she felt a responsibility to delve into her own sense of privilege: “I didn’t realize the extent to which race and class would play out during the process. That’s why I’m in the film,” she explains. “I wasn’t supposed to be initially, but I felt I had to take responsibility somehow, in relation to my positionality. I come from a deeper place of privilege than most of the characters in the film; there was critical tension in that, and I felt like I had to take responsibility for it and explore it.”
The relationships and shared thoughts, as well as the sights, sounds and rhythm of the film, are what At Night is really all about. You can watch an exclusive clip for the film, which THR can premiere, right here:
“Power. People. Data.” That is a core theme of this year’s program of Locarno Pro, the industry strand of the Locarno Film Festival, whose 79th edition is currently taking place in the Swiss lakeside city. But in which order should we think about these key concepts and buzzwords? Is it maybe people, power, data?
You may have your own thoughts, and the opening day of the 15th edition of Locarno Pro, led by Markus Duffner in his sixth year, showed that there are very different ways to think about the order of and relationship between the three. After all, a three-person panel shared three different approaches and thoughts.
Moderated by AC Coppers of The Catalysts, the panel featured Yasmine Talli, acquisitions manager at sales agent, producer and distributor mk2 Films, Andrea Occhipinti, president and founder of Italian producer and distributor Lucky Red, in which StudioCanal recently acquired a majority stake, Doris Ruth Eikhof, CEO of the University of Glasgow spin-out company Design Otherwise, which focuses on helping organizations to improve inclusion and diversity in the cultural sector.
Asked about how she thinks about the order of and relationship between the three words in focus of the discussion, Eikhof offered her take: power, data, people. “People will be people. They’ll be more or less wise or more or less flawed,” she explains. “So, we sort out the power structures first and the stories that we tell about ourselves – that’s what data really is. Then we have the best chance at creating a space in which everyone can prosper.”
Occhipinti had a different approach. “I’ll go with people first,” he said. “Judgment, sensitivity and experiences come first. Then comes power. And data is a very important tool that we have to use.”
And Talli shared this thought: people, data, power. “It’s probably true that people need to gather some data in order to keep power,” she explained.
A key topic the industry players were asked about was how much they make decisions about films based on conviction versus data and algorithms. “We don’t use algorithms to choose a film that we want to distribute or produce,” shared Occhipinti. “We go very much on instinct, sensitivity and experience. If there’s something that clicks in that film, in that story, even if data or comparables or whatever says don’t do it, often we have proved the contrary” is true.
He mentioned examples, too. “We saw a film like Ida [by Pawel Pawlikowski] – a Polish film, black-and-white,” Occhipinti noted. “We saw it twice. This cannot work, but we still thought it’s a great movie. Or [Barry Jenkins’] Moonlight.”
His takeaway was that there are clearly “movies that on paper are not going to be successful,” but conviction can trump data. Not that Lucky Red doesn’t look at data. As a distributor, the firm has a community that responds to films, which is a form of data, he told the panel audience. “We don’t know what they are looking for, but we test what they react to,” Occhipinti concluded.
How does mk2 make its decisions? Talli outlined a similar approach. “When we consider projects, …[we use] emotion, taste and the human aspects, but we also have what we want to believe gives us some more certainty that a film is going to work,” she said. “The things that we mostly pay attention to [include] the track record of a director, checking which festivals he or she attended with his or her previous work. The people around that director also matter. Who is the producer? The cast also gives a pretty big indication for us when we consider the potential in the international market,” mostly for English-language films.
Talli shared that mk2 is also looking at “comparables, films that have premiered in recent years that for some reason feel that they could be compared to the projects we are evaluating, not necessarily because the story is similar.” She explained that it is more of “a market comparison.”
All in all, at mk2, “it’s a process that actually involves a lot of people,” Talli concluded. “We have a pool of readers. If the readers are recommending something, then we go to the next level to people in the acquisitions team. So, it’s very much a group decision.”
The panel session was part of the 2026 StepIn kick-off event session, following a debate-inducing presentation by film industry data analyst Stephen Follows, who raised eyebrows with data points and hard truths in a presentation entitled “Fear, Lies, and the Illusion of Control.” Among the issues he covered were the likes of how many of this century’s 100 top-grossing films have a “nepo baby creative” and what low percentage of indie films generate a profit.
The fest’s highest honorary award, received last year by Jennifer Lawrence and veteran Spanish Esther Garcia, will be accompanied by a screening of the German filmmaker’s latest feature film, Bucking Fastard, which is competing in the upcoming Venice Film Festival.
“Over a career spanning six decades, Herzog has become one of the most influential figures in contemporary cinema, building an extraordinary body of work ―around 80 films― shaped by obsession, extreme situations and the contradictions of human nature,” said the San Sebastian Film Festival. “His films, both fiction and non-fiction, are populated by dreamers and conquerors confronted with extreme landscapes and forces beyond their control. Guided by his concept of ‘Ecstatic Truth,’ Herzog advocates a cinema that transcends the mere observation of facts to reveal a deeper, more poetic dimension of reality.”
The Donostia Award screening will take place at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre before the award ceremony at the city’s Kursaal venue. Starring Rooney Mara, Kate Mara, Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson, Bucking Fastard tells the unusual story of twin sisters whose extraordinary bond leads them to speak in unison, love the same man and share the same dreams.
Some of Herzog’s most iconic films include Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972), Fitzcarraldo (1982), Grizzly Man (2005) and Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010).
He has also published poetry and books of prose, such as Of Walking In Ice, Conquest of the Useless and, recently, The Twilight World, a novel. Herzog has staged about a dozen operas and even acted in films, among them Jack Reacher, The Mandalorian and guest roles in The Simpsons.
“If somebody offers you a job, it’s very nice if they’re offering you also an exciting script, but in reality, two or three things come into play,” Freeman shared. “What are they going to pay you? If they’re going to pay you enough, then you overlook some of the glitches in the script that happen to be there.”
“Sometimes you can mention things that are in the script that don’t quite work out for you and by and large, that gets worked out,” he added.
Freeman already has a long list of accomplishments, most notably his Academy Award win for best supporting actor for Million Dollar Baby, in addition to four other Oscar nominations across his career. He’s also known for his roles in Invictus, The Dark Knight, Se7en and Driving Miss Daisy, among many others.
But even at 89, Freeman has no plans of retiring from the industry or slowing down. “I’m like Clint Eastwood on that: Don’t let the old man in,” he said. “So, keep working. If you can get out of bed and don’t fall down when you do it, then you just count your blessings and keep moving. So, I’ll work as long as I can — as long as somebody says, ‘Do you want to do this part?’”
As for whether he has any other dream roles that he has yet to take on, Freeman quipped, “No. I’m pushing 90 now. So, the roles that I wished I had been able to play, Denzel Washington will play.”
Freeman most recently returned for Lioness season three, which premiered on Paramount+ earlier this week.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still catching new records as the Tom Holland-led movie continues its impressive start at the box office.
Sony Pictures announced Thursday that director Destin Daniel Cretton‘s film has landed the highest-grossing first week in domestic box office history. It has surpassed $500 million in North America in its first seven days, becoming the fastest film to reach that half-billion milestone by supplanting Avengers: Endgame, which hit the threshold in eight days after opening in April 2019.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day has notched records at a head-spinning pace, which includes scoring the best-ever domestic box office sums for a Monday and a Tuesday. Brand New Day became the second-fastest feature to cross the billion-dollar mark globally when Sony announced Tuesday morning that it reached the threshold in six days, bested only by Endgame.
Over the weekend, Brand New Day was in a neck-and-neck battle with Endgame for the biggest domestic opening weekend ever. On Monday morning, Sony confirmed that Spidey had indeed prevailed to claim the crown with $360 million, surpassing Endgame’s $357.1 million domestic start, although the latter’s $1.2 billion global launch still held the record for its worldwide opening weekend.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day also set records for the biggest Thursday previews and top Friday domestic sum, along with giving Sony its best-ever opening weekend. Hailing from producers Marvel Studios and Amy Pascal, it carries a $225 million production budget.
Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon, Jon Bernthal and Mark Ruffalo also star in the new movie from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Cretton. It sees Marvel Comics’ signature hero enduring a lonely existence without his loved ones before an invisible enemy tracks him down.
“They’re not popular because they’re popular,” the exec emphasized. “They’re popular because they’re talented, and they deserve their popularity. They’re lovely, decent, grounded, good-valued people, and they work really hard. So they’ve earned every ounce of their success.”
Sony projects that Brand New Day will continue attracting audiences in the coming weeks as the summer starts winding down. Its second weekend will encounter fresh competition from such wide releases as One Night Only, Super Troopers 3 and Ice Cream Man.
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For context, the Galaxy Z series’ latest entries, Samsung’s most advanced foldables ever, have been available for pre-order since July 22 with an official Aug. 7 release date. As for the promotion, T-Mobile’s “Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 on Us” offer is available to new and existing customers with device trade-in on the Experience Beyond plan. And while the Fold8 is the world’s lightest fold, for those who prefer a larger screen, opt for the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra for just $200 with device trade-in (regularly $2,100-plus). Customers who’d rather not trade in a device can still get $1,100 off the Ultra when activating a new line instead.
Prefer the new Galaxy Z Flip8, the world’s lightest and thinnest flip? Get it for just $100 (a savings of $1,100) with a new line or eligible trade-in on either the Experience More or Experience Beyond plans.
Only Murders in the Building showrunner John Hoffman wouldn’t mind if the show went on forever.
The true-crime comedic mystery, starring Martin Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez, nabbed five Emmy nominations for its fifth season, including one for outstanding comedy series — a nod it’s received every year since its first season in 2021.
“Many people have asked, ‘How long are you going to stay with that show?’ ” Hoffman tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m like, ‘Until they want to stop.’ No one’s doing anything without me because I just love this group.
“Each season, there has always been that drive in me to say, ‘No, we’ve done that.’ ‘No, that’s not fresh,’ or, ‘That thing doesn’t subvert,’ ” Hoffman continues. “All of that comes up, so I just keep pushing that way just naturally as a writer and director however I can.”
For season six, Hoffman and the Only Murders in the Building creative team are pushing the story overseas to London, a risk for a show whose niche and clever conceit is also conveniently its title.
Whether the show could survive traveling to a wholly different backdrop had been an obstacle Hoffman had wanted to tackle since early in the series’ run, he says.
“There’s no way around a certain understanding of needing to freshen up a show. I mean, how many murders can be in one building?” Hoffman says. “It felt like the right time. I love the idea of however we can broaden the reach of the show and put the trio in new situations, new landscapes for a moment.”
For five seasons of the critically acclaimed show, its titular building and the New York City skyline have been critical to its DNA. In upping the ante for its sixth season, Hoffman says the team knew it was important to keep that tone and spirit in the show.
“There’s no question it’s a New York show, even as we jump to London for an entire season,” Hoffman says. “It’s been really interesting to look at the show anew in this way after five seasons and yet also see what we can hold on to.
“The spirit of the show and the center of it and the emotional hook and how it feels, surprisingly, still feels like our show, and there isn’t a shift that takes us out too much,” he adds. “So that part is always the driving force, wherever the case takes them, whether it’s New York or some other place. I will happily report that London has been incredible for us.”
One way the show has always managed to keep things fresh is by adding new guest stars to the cast and giving them plenty in the script to play with. Jane Lynch, Nathan Lane, Paul Rudd, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Matthew Broderick and Meryl Streep have all been nominated for past guest roles on the show.
The next time Short, Martin and Gomez appear onscreen, they’ll be joined by iconic British film and TV actors, including David Tennant, Jodie Whittaker, Jim Broadbent, Martin Freeman and Olivia Colman.
“I watch the show get deeper, richer, funnier, crazier and just marvel at it and then watch everyone else come aboard and sink into an ensemble when they’ve been the stars of their own things,” says Hoffman. “They find their way here and they’re brilliant, elevating your material and everything else around them, and the vibe around the set changes and, boy, I would not say no to that.”
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.
