Film

Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) voted in favor (78.33 percent to 21.67 percent) of the agreement negotiated last month with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that represents the studios.

The new deal runs through June 30th, 2026, following the first time in 63 years that the unions for actors and writers were on strike at the same time.

SAG-AFTRA:

The deal includes more than $1 billion in new compensation and benefit plan funding, along with outsized gains to the traditional residuals formulas. It offers a new compensation model for performers working in streaming, with a substantial bonus on top of existing residuals structures, plus compensation escalation for principal and background actors. Additionally, the deal establishes detailed informed consent and compensation guardrails for the use of AI, hair and makeup equity, meaningful protections for the casting process, sexual harassment prevention protections and more.

Netflix has released a trailer for its new crypto documentary, Bitconned, about the rise and fall of Centra Tech, a scam that was part of the wave of initial coin offerings in 2017. The blowback from the scheme caught DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather, who had promoted it — they were fined by the SEC. Ray Trapani, one of the co-founders, appears to be a key narrator of the Netflix documentary.

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon reached theaters first on October 20th, and starting tomorrow, December 5th, the movie will go on sale via the usual digital outlets in over 100 countries in a collaboration with Paramount.

But when will the Apple Studios-produced historical crime drama become available globally on the company’s own subscription streaming service? There’s no release date listed yet.

Very soon, you’ll be able to stream Barbie’s existential crisis and Ken’s shenanigans on Max. You’ll also be able to watch a version of the film interpreted in American Sign Language, according to a Warner Bros. Discovery press release.

Here’s the official trailer for Legendary’s next Monsterverse movie. I don’t know what’s going on in it other than that Godzilla’s atomic fire is pink and King Kong has a Thanos glove for some reason.

Also, there’s a baby Kong, which I assume means King Kong dies at the end like in the Linda Hamilton film King Kong Lives.

The New Empire hits theaters worldwide on April 10th next year.

Leading the way is the biggest monster of all, as Godzilla Minus One hits theaters. Also in theaters: John Woo’s Christmas-themed revenge movie Silent Night.

Elsewhere, season 2 of Netflix’s survival horror series Sweet Home is now streaming, the latest Indiana Jones is on Disney Plus, Baldur’s Gate 3 just got a huge update, and Fortnite OG is about to end with The Big Bang event.

We’re all used to seeing Godzilla lay waste to entire cities with a swish of his tail, but one of the most startling things about Godzilla Minus One (and the film’s final trailer) is the way director Takashi Yamazaki manages to perfectly capture and convey the idea of the kaiju king absolutely wrecking people’s minds as well as their surroundings.

It still isn’t entirely clear how the advent of AI filmmaking tech is going to disrupt the entertainment industry.

But it feels pretty significant that Amazon reportedly fired longtime producer Joel Silver not of his alleged harassment towards female executives, but as retaliation in response to his refused to “Use artificial intelligence to finish a movie during the strike.

Responding to a DealBook question about recent box office disappointments, Iger says, “we need to get more realistic” about what a hit looks like in the streaming age.

The Disney CEO also says it was a “definite mistake” to increase output for streaming and that an increase in quantity led to diluted quality.

In about a year’s time, there’s a very strong chance a lot of us are going to be buying tickets for Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 from director Jeff Fowler, and getting hyped as hell to see Shadow live and learn on the big screen. IYKYK.

Bill Hunt over at Digital Bits recently noticed it was awfully hard to buy a physical copy of Oppenheimer in 4K Ultra HD, and Universal has now confirmed the shortage is happening.

I’m personally just thrilled that in 2023 people are embracing physical media so much that a major film release could sell out.

That’s Zack Snyder in Wired talking about the differences between theatrical and streaming movies — particularly when it comes to grabbing people right away — ahead of the release of Rebel Moon on Netflix.

On the streamer, though, you have to be careful with the opening of the movies because the barrier for entry is really easy. But also the barrier for leaving is very easy. The balance is a lot more difficult on a streamer than in a theater.

If you missed the concert film’s box office-shattering debut, you can rent the extended version starting on December 13th (which also happens to be Taylor Swift’s birthday). The extended version includes some extra performances, including “Wildest Dreams,” “The Archer” and “Long Live.” There’s still no word on pricing just yet.

There’s a lengthy transcript of a 1978 recording of George Lucas, Stephen Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan brainstorming Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark that’s floated around the internet for the last 14 years or longer.

I couldn’t confirm its authenticity, but Kasdan didn’t deny it in a 2016 Writers Guild festival interview. The hosts of The Hollywood Gauntlet recorded a four-hour reenactment of it if you don’t have time to read the whole thing.

When SAG-AFTRA finally reached a tentative agreement to bring the actors strike to an end earlier this month, the union’s insistence that its members might not be able to look over the deal before voting on it raised more than a few eyebrows.

It seemed odd that union leadership might try to get people on board with the contract without giving them a chance to read the whole thing. But now the union’s released the full document — on the Friday evening after Thanksgiving of all days.

The Marvels’ intriguing mid-credits sequence was yet another reminder that the X-Men are making their way to the MCU sooner rather than later.

It would have made a lot more sense, thematically, if Anna Paquin’s Rogue had popped up with a warning about the danger on the horizon. But looking at the artist Andy Park’s concept designs for an updated Beast closer to the comics, you can see why bringing Kelsey Grammer back was a solid move.

The Blackening, Lionsgate’s 2022 horror comedy satire from co-writers Dewayne Perkins and Tracy Oliver, ultimately raked in an impressive $17.7 million at the box office on a mere $5 million budget. That math’s really all you need to know to understand why the studio is bringing Perkins, Oliver and producer E. Brian Dobbins back to devlop a sequel.

After reports surfaced suggesting that the studio behind Chicken Run is running out of clay, Aardman released a statement assuring fans that there was in fact “absolutely no need to worry.” The company expects a “smooth transition” to new providers, meaning that no one needs to make a p̶l̶a̶s̶t̶i̶ scene.

Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two was one of the handful of upcoming Warner Bros. releases whose premiere dates were delayed in response to the the now-concluded labor strikes.

But now that the industry’s ramping back up, Warner Bros. is getting a jump on things by moving the film’s premiere from March 15th to March 1st.

Disney has already confirmed a Frozen 3 is on the way, but now CEO Bob Iger said Frozen 4 might be “in the works” during an interview on Good Morning America:

I don’t have much to say about those films right now. But Jenn Lee, who created Frozen, the original Frozen and Frozen 2, is hard at work with her team at Disney Animation on not one but actually two stories.

Maybe enough to play Reed Richards. Deadline says that Pascal, who’s had turns as two of nerdy TV’s best dads — Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) and Joel Miller (The Last of Us) — is being looked at for the role in the upcoming Fantastic Four movie. However, it also says the deal isn’t a sure thing yet.

Meanwhile, Slash Film says “the deal is done.”

Shang-Chi director Destin Daniel Cretton has stepped down. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one of the reasons was the movie’s full-year delay to May 2025.

Cretton remains attached to Marvel’s Wonder Man series, so there may not be any bad blood. But losing Kang Dynasty’s director is probably a painful setback, given how much water Marvel has taken on lately.

The reborn subscription service will no longer require showing up at movie theaters in person to acquire tickets — previously a major gripe for users. Other changes explained in an updated FAQ include swapping out the physical payment cards for virtual ones and letting customers buy additional theater credits in the app if they run out.

More features due by the end of the year for MoviePass include a referral program, film reviews, and allowing members to select premium large format screens — too bad 70mm Oppenheimer is no longer showing.

If you had to sum up James Cameron’s whole cinematic career with a single one of his works The Abyss would be my choice. It’s one of his most personal films, and its technological achievements, like a whole monster created from water, were astounding in 1989, and remarkable even in 2023.

The film, about a crew of a submersible oil rig forced to partner with the government to recover nuclear warheads, was a famously grueling shoot full of technological innovations, and its returning to theaters December 6, with a remastered 4K print.