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The catastrophic Pacific Palisades fire has destroyed the family home of Sundance Institute’s beloved founding senior director of artist programs Michelle Satter and her husband David Latt, a veteran Hollywood writer and producer.

Satter shared the tragic news on Instagram Thursday by reposting details first shared by the couple’s son, Franklin Latt, a high-profile CAA agent who serves as co-head of the powerhouse agency’s motion picture talent department.

“Our family home was lost to the fire and hometown completely devastated,” revealed Franklin Latt, himself a beloved figure in the business and rep to countless stars including Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zendaya, Pedro Pascal, Charlize Theron, Viola Davis and Elizabeth Olsen. “Thankfully we’re safe. So many have lost everything and need support. Let’s all lead with love.”

Added Satter in her follow-up post: “Our heart goes out to everyone who’s experiencing loss during this devastating time in our city.

Women directors made notable contributions to filmmaking in 2024, but the numbers show the industry still has a long way to go in terms of equal representation. Films such as The Fire Inside by Rachel Morrison, Babygirl by Halina Reijn, and The Substance by Coralie Fargeat showcased exceptional talent, yet women remained underrepresented behind the camera.

According to studies from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film and USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, progress for female directors has plateaued, with minimal gains compared to previous years.

In 2024, women accounted for only 16% of directors for the 250 highest-grossing films, matching the 2023 percentage. The numbers dropped further for the top 100 films, where women directed just 11%, a decrease from 2023.

Similarly, USC’s report found that women helmed 13.4% of the top 100 movies in 2024, slightly up from 12.1% in 2023. These figures highlight how rare opportunities remain for women to take on leadership roles in the industry.

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the new film “The Fire Inside,” written by Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight”) and directed by Rachel Morrison, it’s the story of Olympic boxer Claressa Shields and her inner drive to better her circumstances. In theaters since December 25th.

Claressa “T-Rex” Shields is from depressed Flint, Michigan, and uses her abusive home life as a motivator to rise through the boxing ranks. Her trainer is Jason (Brian Tyree Henry), and is skeptical of the little girl that desires to box, and takes her on because of that grit and “fire” in her belly to make it to the top. Despite distractions from her mother (Olunike Adeliyi), a boyfriend and a sports world that won’t embrace her even as she has success, T-Rex perseveres to rise to unprecedented greatness.

”The Fire Inside” is in theaters since December 25th. Featuring Ryan Destiny,...

From thrillers like “Babygirl” and “Love Lies Bleeding” to genre-bending horror flicks like “The Substance” to inspirational sports dramas like “The Fire Inside,” women directed some of last year’s most audacious and acclaimed films. However, those female filmmakers remained the exception, not the rule.

Women accounted for just 16% of directors working on the 250 highest-grossing domestic releases, according to new research from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. That was even with the percentage of films directed by women in 2023. And the situation didn’t improve as you climb up the box office chart — women directed just 11% of the 100 most popular films, down three percentage points from 2023.

Some of these films, such as Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside,” were released at the end of 2024 and have yet to finalize their box office tally, while others such as Anna Kendrick...

Gritty and authentic was what Rachel Morrison, the first woman cinematographer nominated for an Oscar (“Mudbound”) was seeking for her directing debut, “The Fire Inside.” Released on Christmas Day, the true-life sports drama earned an A Cinemascore and is building word of mouth at the holiday box office. The $12-million Amazon/MGM feature scored strong reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival and earned performer nominations from both the Gothams and the Indie Spirits, as well as a coveted Golden Frog nomination for Morrison from Cameraimage, which she shared with her cinematographer Rina Yang.

Like Steven Soderbergh, Morrison likes to operate her own camera as both cinematographer and director. One popular picture of Morrison shows her at a late stage of pregnancy, shouldering her camera on the set of “Seberg” (2019). “I was eight months pregnant by the end of it,” she said in a Zoom interview. “Shooting 35mm, mostly or entirely,...

Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” and Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” are duking it out for first place at the North American box office with each of the family friendly films bringing in roughly $60 million over the five days since Christmas.

Based on estimates, “Sonic 3” was ever-so-slightly ahead during the traditional weekend while “Mufasa” claimed No. 1 over the five-day stretch. Either way, both “Mufasa” and “Sonic 3” had plenty to celebrate over the Yuletide frame.

Meanwhile, two newcomers — the Focus Features “Nosferatu” remake and Searchlight’s Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” — started strong over the extended holiday period. Both films were well received by critics and launched above pre-release projections.

“Nosferatu,” directed by Robert Eggers and starring Bill Skarsgård as Count Orlok, opened in third place with $21.1 million over the traditional weekend and $40.3 million over its first five days of release. The studio reported that 40% of the audience...

The face-off between furry mammals rages on at the holiday box office, with Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” continuing to lead domestic charts. The video game inspired threequel earned another $12.6 million on Friday to boost its North American tally to $112 million.

After an underwhelming opening behind “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” last weekend, “Mufasa: The Lion King” surged ahead of “Sonic 3” to lead charts over Christmas. It moved back to second on Friday, earning another $12 million. It’ll look to cross the $100 million domestic mark before the end of the weekend and is hoping to keep up momentum through the New Year. At a $200 million production budget, the Barry Jenkins-directed feature needs lasting staying power, domestically and internationally, for Disney to end the year on a high note.

Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” shows no signs of slowing down. The new adaptation of the enduring Sega video game...

Deadline’s Read the Screenplay series highlighting awards season’s buzziest movies continues with The Fire Inside, the boxing drama directed by Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison in her feature helming debut from a script from Oscar-winning Moonlight screenwriter Barry Jenkins.

The Amazon MGM Studios movie hit theaters on Christmas Day after having its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. It has looking at a $4.3 million gross across the five-day holiday frame.

The movie follows the true story of Claressa Shields (played by Ryan Destiny), the Flint, Michigan high schooler who with the help of her trainer Jason Crutchfield (played by Oscar-nominated Brian Tyree Henry) rose to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in women’s boxing, going on to win multiple world titles to become one of the most decorated boxers of all time. The focus of her rise is their strong relationship. Jazmin Headley and Kylee D. Allen also star.

Mufasa may have had to wait, but the prequel is finally king at the box office.

After stumbling out of the blocks in second place last week, Mufasa: The Lion King managed to rebound with an impressive $14.7 million haul on Christmas Day. The Walt Disney movie’s five-day holiday weekend projection has topped $50 million, with some outlets forecasting north of $70 million, twice as much as it made in its opening weekend. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 will hold on for second place with a still-impressive $50 million-plus five-day total, followed by Nosferatu in third. The stylish horror film is exceeding expectations, on track to earn more than $40 million, followed by A Complete Unknown with $25 million and Wicked at $20 million.

New Releases

Nosferatu

Director: Robert Eggers

This update of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 classic is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, leading to untold horror.

Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” is reigning over the holiday box office. The family film, which is a prequel to “The Lion King” (both the 1994 animated classic and the less canonical 2019 photorealistic remake), earned $12 million on Thursday. That brings its domestic haul to $76.4 million.

In a change of pace, Barry Jenkins, best known for shepherding arthouse films like “Moonlight” and “If Beale Street Could Talk” to screens, directed “Mufasa,” which cost $200 million to produce. “Mufasa” started slowly in the U.S., losing out to Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” in its opening weekend, but it seems to be catching on with the Christmas crowds. It should earn $58 million over the five-day holiday period. That means that Disney will end 2024 on a high note after dominating multiplexes with hits such as “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Moana 2” and “Inside Out 2.”

And though it was outpaced on Thursday, “Sonic 3” was...

Refresh for more…Mufasa continued to get from the count on Thursday, beating Sonic The Hedgehog 3, $12M to $11.55M. The 3-day and 5-days on these two family movies are expected to be close. Mufasa is currently looking to be the stronger at $58M. Running total through yesterday on Mufasa is $76.4M while Sonic 3 stands at $99.55M.

But enough about those filthy animals, the real story over the holiday are the classic labels, Focus Features and Searchlight which are both seeing record openings. Post Covid, Focus Features rose from the ashes this weekend to remind the town how hip they can make movies, the win here being Robert Eggers’ gothic vampire movie Nosferatu which is eyeing a $21.4M 3-day and $40.6M 5-day after $7.6M yesterday, the pic’s second day of release. At five days, that’s the biggest Focus Features opening ever, besting the Friday-Tuesday take of 2019’s Downton Abbey which did $38.4M.

Rachel Morrison said that now that she’s completed her first feature film as a director, her empathy for filmmakers has grown immensely.

“I have so much more empathy for my directors,” Morrison told TheWrap. “Now as a Dp (Director of Photography), I remember at times, like [with] ‘Black Panther,’ probably the most obvious example, where Ryan [Coogler] was putting out so many fires that he didn’t have time to shot list one day that we were supposed to be shot listing. And I’m like, ‘But it’s your own movie. How could you not be shot listing right now,’ you know?”

“And then, sure enough, on this movie, I was there putting out a gazillion fires somewhere. And I was like, [cinematographer] Rina [Yang], I need you to take a pass at this shotlist,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, I get it now.’ And it’s not to say that in either case,...

“The Fire Inside” has been years in the making.

The Rachel Morrison-directed drama (in theaters now) tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, the Flint, Mich., native who became the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Ryan Destiny stars as Shields alongside Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry as her coach, Jason Crutchfield.

“I trained in 2020, our first go-round for three to four months,” Destiny tells me during a joint interview with Henry on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “Then we stopped everything for two years, and I had to do it all over again for a second time. But looking back, I am actually very happy that I got more time with it, and I think I grew as a person, and I would assume and hope that I do because it was such a long process.

“Overall, it’s been like a...

The holiday box office has been known to deliver a twist or two, and it happened again on Christmas Day as Disney’s “Mufasa” is rebounding from a weak $35 million opening weekend to take the No. 1 spot on the Wednesday charts from Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

Lifted by positive audience word-of-mouth, increased family turnout and support from Imax screens, Barry Jenkins’ prequel to “The Lion King” earned $15 million on Christmas Day, just over double the $7.1 million that it earned on Christmas Eve. Exhibition sources say they believe “Mufasa” will continue to enjoy a lead over “Sonic 3” through the weekend with a projected 5-day extended weekend total of $65 million, enough to bring its domestic total to $115 million.

Though it won’t get anywhere near $1 billion, let alone the $1.65 billion of the 2019 “Lion King” remake, “Mufasa” is shrugging off the threat of becoming a box office flop after a poor pre-Xmas start.

Christmas moviegoers visited the Pride Lands in force over the holidays, propelling Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to the top of the charts. The family friendly adventure dominated ticket sales, earning $14.7 million to capture the box office crown. That pushed its domestic tally to $64.3 million. Globally, the prequel to “The Lion King” has earned $197.7 million after adding $18.8 million from international markets on Wednesday. Stateside, the film is on pace to generate more than $50 million over the five-day holiday frame.

Focus Features’ “Nosferatu,” a blood-soaked horror film about a Dracula-like vampire, catered to very different crowds than “Mufasa,” while capturing second place on its opening day with $11.5 million. The movie is directed by Robert Eggers, who oversaw arthouse favorites like “The Witch” and “The Lighthouse.” Its ensemble includes rising stars like Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Bill Skarsgård and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, along with veterans such as Willem Dafoe. It has a sizable budget of $50 million,...

The story of boxer Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields certainly seems tailor-made for the big screen. Growing up in economically depressed Flint, Michigan, with an alcoholic mother and an incarcerated father, she became an unlikely gold medalist at the 2012 Summer Olympics in women’s boxing and went on to win again in 2016. Amazon/MGM’s The Fire Inside tells her story but does so in a way that gives the film a grounded, earthy vibe.

Recently, I was lucky enough to sit down with stars Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry (who plays Shields’s coach/ mentor) for an interesting talk in which they examined the roles mentors have played in their own lives, with the on-screen relationship mirrored their offscreen one. Shields, who’d never boxed before, also revealed how she trained for the film but then had to stay in shape for two years as the film was shut down...

“The Fire Inside” starring Ryan Destiny (“Star”) is ready to get in the ring at the box office, as the film hits theaters on Wednesday.

The film is centered on the rise of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, who is arguably the greatest female boxer of all time, making history as the first American woman to win gold in boxing and is the first American boxer (male or female) to win back-to-back gold metals at the Olympic Games. Ryan Destiny portrays the iconic boxer in longtime cinmetagrapher Rachel Morrison’s (“Black Panther”) feature directorial debut.

The film is produced by three-time Oscar-winning writer, director and producer Barry Jenkins. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch.

When does “The Fire Inside” come out?

“The Fire Inside” comes out on Wednesday, Dec. 25.

Is “The Fire Inside” in theaters?

Yes, “The Fire Inside” will hit theaters on Wednesday, Dec. 25. Check out the listings below for tickets.

Ryan Destiny stars as Claressa Shields in director Rachel Morrison’s The Fire Inside.

An Amazon MGM Studios film. Photo Credit: Sabrina Lantos

© 2024 Amazon Content Services LLC. All Rights Reserved. Ryan Destiny brings grit and grace to the screen in The Fire Inside, a powerful portrayal of the life of Claressa ‘T-Rex’ Shields. The film captures the incredible story of Shields, a boxer from Flint, Michigan, who broke boundaries to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. Destiny’s performance has been met with high praise, showcasing her dedication to portraying Shields relentless drive and courage. Preparing for the role wasn’t just about physical endurance—it was also about bonding with her trainer, Rob Sally. This relationship gave Destiny a deeper understanding of the trainer-boxer connection, a pivotal element in Shields’ story. That dynamic brought an emotional layer to the film,...

Last Updated on December 26, 2024

Plot: The true story of Olympic boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny).

Review: Everyone loves a good, inspirational sports biopic, especially around the holidays. Amazon/MGM has had a lot of luck in that department, with Creed III being one of their highest-grossing movies, while last year’s The Boys in the Boat became an unlikely box-office success. They’ve got another solid one this year with The Fire Inside, which tells a story that feels tailor-made for the big screen.

Women’s boxing (along with Mma and wrestling) has become increasingly popular over the years, and Claressa Shields has quickly become a legend. The Fire Inside, which is written by Moonlight’s Barry Jenkins, and directed by famed cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther) tells her life story in an intriguing way that departs from the usual sports biopic formula.

For those who don’t know,...

Well, it seems as though we’ve arrived at another end-of-the-year inspirational true-life sports story award contender. Last year it was The Boys In The Boat and The Iron Claw. And both of them have an Olympic connection to this new film (the latter just touched on the gold in its first act). But that’s where the comparisons end as this story happened less than twenty years ago. Oh, and the “biggie”, is that this film concerns a young (mostly high school-age) African-American woman. Now her coach plays a big role here, though it is in support of her journey. But the biggest difference is that that journey doesn’t end with the medal ceremony, all wrapped up nicely with the star-spangled ribbon. No, she forges ahead due to her courage, skills, and determination fueled by The Fire Within.

The film begins with a flashback to a few years...

A splash of auteurish openings on Christmas Day, with Focus Features’ Nosferatu, Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown, A24’s naughty Babygirl and Rachel Morrison’s The Fire Inside, is poised to send the holiday week’s box office to a potential $280 million tally. That puts it on par with last year’s holiday week that was boosted by Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Wonka, Migration and The Color Purple.

Christmas week 2021 holds the post-Covid record for the most made by movies with $292.4M during that time, a majority of that from Sony/Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Still, it’s interesting. Even though there isn’t a massive, oxygen-sucking tentpole in the marketplace, the heavy supply of family titles in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Mufasa, Wicked and Moana 2. plus the new offerings, are making for a lucrative season. Comscore projects we’ll end 2024 at $8.75 billion, just 3% shy of 2023’s $9 billion tally.

Tuesday Am Update: Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 3 cleared $10M on Monday, the first full day of kids and colleges students off from school. This brings the 4-Day on the Jeff Fowler directed threequel to $70.1M, which was the 3-day estimate on the movie back on Friday. So, it just took another day to get to that threshold. It doesn’t mean that holiday moviegoing is in danger. All studios can’t wait for Wednesday when many will be free of holiday distractions, so that they can head to the movies. Today, Christmas Eve business for the top 10 movies can be off as much -20% to -40% from yesterday.

Note, Universal’s Wicked is barreling toward $400M at the domestic box office this week and when it crosses, it will become one of six Universal movies to hit that threshold after Jurassic World ($653.4M), Super Mario Bros Movie ($574.9M), E.

Powerful performers punch above their weight in this otherwise by-the-book boxing drama. Based on the record-setting back-to-back Olympic victories — in 2012 and 2016 — of professional boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields, who came from a poor background in Flint, Mi, to win gold medals in London and Rio, it’s a familiar tale of success against the odds that takes some interesting turns as a depiction of a woman competing in a stereotypically male sport.

Ultimately, though, what made great material for a 90-minute documentary (2015’s T-Rex) doesn’t organically stretch to a 109-minute feature; thankfully, director Rachel Morrison resists the urge to confect extraneous drama, relying instead on its two excellent leads to carry the story to the last round.

Claressa’s story starts in 2006; we see a young girl running through a rundown neighborhood in wind and snow to a boxing gym on the other side of town. She is used to...

We know the story, or some version of it: tenacious underdog athlete, humble origins, big dreams. She trains at a dumpy gym with the help of a fatherly coach, overcoming economic disparity to make it past the nationals, all the way to the international stage. Back in her blighted hometown...

The ascent from starring on a hit television show to booking the lead in a buzzy film has become increasingly common with this new class of movie stars. But where things went drastically different for actress Ryan Destiny is that her Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance in boxing biopic “The Fire Inside” was five years in the making—delayed by a global pandemic, the film going into turnaround, a new studio picking it up, and her primary scene partner being recast.

Speaking to IndieWire over Zoom about her turn in Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut as Olympic champion boxer Claressa Shields, the only American in her sport to win back-to-back gold medals, Destiny said “I definitely didn’t think I would get it. Because I knew it was so competitive. Something like this, a project like this, especially with Barry Jenkins attached and Rachel attached, and the studio at that time,...

The Fire Inside may not be the quintessential boxing film, nor is it an overtly emotional tale of overcoming great odds to become a champion. But, it is a solid and entertaining story of two people that find each other and connect to make each other better than they were separately and manage to achieve greatness alongside of one another. In that way, it is perhaps a film sorely needed at this particular moment in time.

The film follows Claressa Shields (Ryan Destiny) as she begins training with Coach Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry) to ultimately competes as part of the American Olympic team, becoming the first American woman to win the gold medal in the event. It is an inspirational story rife with challenges that Shields overcomes with the support of those around her and an unwavering belief in herself.

Working from a script by Barry Jenkins (If Beale Street Could Talk...

“it was definitely the toughest thing mentally, emotionally, and physically. It was the toughest thing. Having to spend five years on this was not something that I thought was going to happen. And I think it really changed me in so many ways.” That’s Ryan Destiny exhaling over Rachel Morrison‘s film “The Fire Inside” finally arriving in theaters. A movie that officially died during the pandemic, then almost died right after, and took another two years to debut following the guild strikes of 2023.

Continue reading Ryan Destiny Never Gave Up On ‘The Fire Inside’: A Remarkable Hollywood Story at The Playlist.

When she competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claressa Shields became the first American woman to win a gold medal in boxing. It was the culmination of a lifelong struggle to make her way as a fighter. Growing up on the edge of poverty in Flint, Michigan, Shields trained with coach Jason Crutchfield in a long-term collaboration. Nicknamed “T-Rex” for her short arm span, she was the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold. In 2019, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison chose a project about Shields for her feature directing debut. Working from a script by Barry Jenkins, […]

The post “I Keep My Local 600 Card So I Can Operate”: Rachel Morrison on The Fire Inside first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

When she competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Claressa Shields became the first American woman to win a gold medal in boxing. It was the culmination of a lifelong struggle to make her way as a fighter. Growing up on the edge of poverty in Flint, Michigan, Shields trained with coach Jason Crutchfield in a long-term collaboration. Nicknamed “T-Rex” for her short arm span, she was the subject of the 2015 documentary T-Rex: Her Fight for Gold. In 2019, Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison chose a project about Shields for her feature directing debut. Working from a script by Barry Jenkins, […]

The post “I Keep My Local 600 Card So I Can Operate”: Rachel Morrison on The Fire Inside first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Rachel Morrison’s feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside, uses the framework of a traditional boxing drama without ever being constrained by it. Telling the true story of trailblazing boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shield, it has the fundamentals of the genre down pat, from the inspiring speeches to the robust training montages to the exhilarating fights scenes. But the nuanced script, keen-eyed direction, and a pair of powerhouse lead performances elevate the film into something richer, realer, and more moving.

We first meet Claressa (Jazmin Headley) as a stringy young kid from Flint, Michigan, walking to the local gym, where she silently stares down the boys until someone agrees to train her. That someone is Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry), an affable ex-boxer who could’ve been a contender back in the day and now trains the next generation of potential champions. After putting Claressa through her paces, Jason confesses to his wife,...

Learning to take and throw a punch is one thing, but changing your whole physique to better emulate one of the most awarded athletes in the sport of boxing is a different task entirely. For Ryan Destiny, originally an R&b singer turned actress on shows like “Star” and “Grown-ish,” becoming two-time Olympic gold medalist Claressa “T-Rex” Shields in Rachel Morrison’s “The Fire Inside” was unlike any challenge she’d faced before.

“It was a lot. It was really, really exhausting, but in a good way,” Destiny said to the Los Angeles Times in a recent interview. “Because I have never pushed myself that way ever in my life before. Especially not physically. So to see my body transform from day one until actually starting was so crazy to me because I didn’t know my body could do those things that it was doing. And I built my...

Movies continued their difficult post-pandemic recovery in 2024. Hindering that process was a pipeline drastically thinned by the previous year’s protracted writers’ and actors’ strikes; the summer release slate was especially anemic. The outlook got a boost from the bumper crop of early-winter releases led by Wicked, Moana 2 and Gladiator II, but box office nonetheless seems headed for an annual tally well short of 2023 revenues.

Studio animation came back with guns blazing — Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4 and Moana 2 all appear certain to land in the top 5. Among critics’ darlings, Flow and The Wild Robot both looked to the animal kingdom to find hope for a planet falling apart, while the latter also provided a comforting balm for A.I. anxiety. And the artisanal magic of stop-motion animation made a comeback in Memoir of a Snail and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.

The success of Deadpool & Wolverine...

Exclusive: Brian Tyree Henry is in final negotiations to join Julia Roberts, Elizabeth Olsen, and Eddie Redmayne in Panic Carefully, writer-director Sam Esmail’s new paranoid thriller for Warner Bros.

Character details are under wraps, as is the logline. The film is said to be in the vein of Esmail’s Mr. Robot and The Silence of the Lambs and involves the hunt for a cyber terrorist.

Warner Bros won the project in a bidding war earlier this year, in part due to its commitment to a theatrical run. Pic reunites Esmail with Roberts following Leave the World Behind, their apocalyptic thriller, which stands as Netflix’s fifth most popular English-language film of all time.

Producers include Esmail and Chad Hamilton for Email Corp., along with Scott Stuber, Roberts, Marisa Yeres Gill, and Lisa Gillan. Kevin McCormick and Chrystal Li are overseeing the project for Warner Bros, with production to launch in England in January.

‘Tis the season for sisterhood.

Los Angeles has hosted a crush of female-focused events lately, like The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment breakfast, Elle’s Women in Hollywood affair and the Women in Film Honors, all of which celebrate the gender’s impact both in front of and behind the camera. But the latest installment, a fashionable affair situated on the deck of the Academy Museum’s stunning open-air sphere on Tuesday, was the only one presented by Chanel in partnership with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Meaning that many of the A-list attendees who made the rounds inside the afternoon gathering were dressed in chic threads by the French fashion house and the guest list featured high-profile actresses, directors, producers, writers, agents and other creative insiders.

There also happened to be a couple of recently nominated multi-hyphenates like Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez, whose sisterly interactions...

Ariana Grande really wants to get to know Selena Gomez more.

So much so that she asked to sit with the “Emilia Pérez” star at the Academy Women’s Luncheon on Tuesday at the Academy Museum.

“I respect her so much, and I’ve always adored her,” the “Wicked” star told me. “I was really happy for her to see us on that list together. It was very special.”

That list is the Golden Globe list of nominees for best performance by a female actor in a supporting role in any motion picture. Grande and Gomez were nominated alongside Felicity Jones (“The Brutalist”), Margaret Qualley (“The Substance”), Isabella Rossellini (“Conclave”) and Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”).

Grande was one of the first people Gomez heard from after the nominations were announced on Monday. “Ariana texted me and it was the sweetest note and it was about six in the morning,” Gomez told me,...

Enter our contest by following the link at the bottom of this page for your chance to win a pair passes to a preview of the new film The Fire Inside on Wednesday, December 18 2024 at 7:00pm at the Mjr Troy theater!

Synopsis: The Fire Inside is the inspirational true story of Claressa Shields, arguably the greatest female boxer of all time. Claressa, a high school Junior from Flint, Michigan, aided by her tough-love coach, Jason Crutchfield, pushes past all limitations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. But even at the pinnacle of success, Claressa has to reckon with the fact that not all dreams are created equal, and the real fight has only just begun.

About The Film

Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport Cast: Ryan Destiny, Brian Tyree Henry Director: Rachel Morrison Screenplay: Barry Jenkins Producer: Elishia Holmes, p.g.a., Barry Jenkins,...

TIMOTHÉE Chalamet as Paul Atreides and Zendaya as Chani in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ ‘Dune: Part Two’ (Photo by Niko Tavernise)

The San Diego Film Critics Society is known for marching to the beat of its own drum. Last year, the So. California group named Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret the Best Picture of 2024. And this year’s nominees break from other critics groups, with Dune: Part Two leading with 12 nominations. Conclave followed with nine, and Sing Sing and Wicked each earned eight.

Winners will be announced on Monday, December 9, 2024.

2024 San Diego Film Critics Society Awards Nominees

Best Picture

Anora

Challengers

Conclave

Dune: Part Two

Sing Sing

Best Director

Brady Corbet – The Brutalist

Coralie Fargeat, The Substance

Denis Villeneuve, Dune: Part Two

Edward Berger, Conclave

Greg Kwedar, Sing Sing

Best Actor

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist

Colman Domingo, Sing Sing

Daniel Craig, Queer

Ralph Fiennes,...

Here’s how we know December is likely to gross over $1 billion: in its first eight days through the upcoming weekend, “Moana 2” (Disney), “Wicked” (Universal), and “Gladiator II” (Paramount) will likely combine to take in around $225 million in U.S./Canada box office.

That’s a full weekend plus Sunday through Thursday after Thanksgiving. The three films through Sunday will have grossed over $700 million — all told through then, most of it for “Moana 2” and “Wicked,” both over $300 million by next Sunday.

Those two are certain to hold most of their theaters through Christmas, where their family appeal should rebound. Ridley Scott’s film will still have some juice left. It’s reasonable that combined all three will gross over $500 million during December.

If they do, it should help push the month over $1 billion. And that would happen even though none of the new Christmas titles is expected to...

Cinematographer now turned director Rachel Morrison knows a thing to two about managing an impressive feat and breaking boundaries as a woman. In 2018, Morrison, best known for her work on Fruitvale Station and Black Panther, became the first female cinematographer ever nominated for an Academy Award. Reflecting on garnering her nomination for Netflix’s Mudbound, she acknowledges the hoops women in the industry have to go through. “Cinematography is a craft that nobody pictures women in. So I’m used to being the exception to the rule,” Morrison says,” Realizing [that] so many women actually can relate to this idea of it’s not enough to be good at the thing you do. You have to present a certain way and carry yourself a certain way.”

It makes sense then that Morrison’s first foray into feature film directing, following a stint of TV directorial debuts for American Crime Story, The Mandalorian and The Morning Show,...

The stars were out for the 2024 Governors Awards held at Dolby Theatre on Sunday evening (November 17) in Hollywood.

The annual event is held prior to the Oscars and celebrates the recipients of a select few of awards conferred by the Academy’s Board of Governors – the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award.

Many celebrities were in attendance at the event this year, including Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Elizabeth Olsen, pregnant Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones, Marlee Matlin, and more.

Keep reading to find out more…

Each recipient of the Governors Awards is announced over the summer with them being honored at the dinner gala later in the year. Highlights are also shown at the upcoming Oscars.

This year, honorary Oscars were presented to the late Quincy Jones and Juliet Taylor, with Richard Curtis receiving the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award,...

With every awards season comes something new: emerging talent, groundbreaking technology, fresh storylines. This season, at least six new directors hit the ground running. Actor Embeth Davidtz (Schindler’s List, Matilda and The Morning Show) wrote and made her feature directorial debut, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, about a white Zimbabwean family following the Rhodesian Bush War; actor Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire, Fargo, American Hustle), a grandson of John Huston, wrote and helmed the boxing drama Day of the Fight; Malcolm Washington, son of Denzel Washington, co-wrote and directed The Piano Lesson, based on the August Wilson play; cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Mudbound) jumped behind the camera for The Fire Inside,another boxing movie; Josh Margolin wrote and directed Thelma, based on something that happened to his grandmother; and film editor William Goldenberg (Argo, Zero Dark Thirty) helmed Unstoppable, about a boxer born with one leg.

In...

Contenders Film: Los Angeles photo studio hosted talent on November 16 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles as cast members of films stopped by including Brian Tyree Henry, Ryan Destiny, and Rachel Morrison from The Fire Inside; Maisy Stella from My Old Ass; Jharrel Jerome, Judy Robles and William Goldenberg from Unstoppable; Josh O’Connor and Luca Guadagnino from Challengers; Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn and Sean Baker from Anora; Kevin Costner from Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1; Saoirse Ronan and Steve McQueen from Blitz and Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and Pedro Almodóvar from The Room Next Door.

Related: Deadline Contenders Film Los Angeles Arrivals And Panels Gallery: Kevin Costner, Brian Tyree Henry, Mikey Madison, Luca Guadagnino, Maisy Stella And More

Talent that attended the afternoon panels included June Squibb and Josh Margolin from Thelma, Jason Reitman for Saturday Night; Mark Hamill and Lupita Nyong’o from The Wild Robot...

The Fire Inside tells the story of Olympic boxer Clarissa “T-Rex” Shields (Ryan Destiny) and her coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry). Shields’ accomplishments in the ring are a matter of public record and she was the subject of a documentary. The film, from director Rachel Morrison and a script by Barry Jenkins, focuses on the relationship between Shields and her coach that sports fans never got to see.

“This is an inspirational sports movie until it becomes an inspirational life movie,” Morrison said. “The heart of it is the life part. A lot of it outside the ring is telling his side of the story too.”

The film is the first time Henry played a real, living figure like Crutchfield, he said. Henry said he was also inspired by the fact that Crutchfield moved Shields into his house.

Related: 2024-25 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Oscars, Grammys, Tonys, Guilds...

Contenders Film: Los Angeles, Deadline’s signature and original Contenders event, kicks off its latest edition this morning at 8:30 a.m. Pt at the DGA Theater in Hollywood, giving awards voters the opportunity to experience up close and personal the story of 21 of the awards season’s most acclaimed movies, and to hear directly from the talent responsible.

If you’re not attending in person, click here to launch the livestream.

The year 2024 has been a challenging one for the film community as the actors and writers strikes of last year threw the industry off balance and delayed many films, stopping some right in the middle of production and making it especially hard to stick to planned release dates. What is remarkable is the number of films that did manage to meet release dates and maintain the highest quality that has brought them to our event today.

What a lineup we have,...

Coralie Fargeat has pulled her Cannes sensation The Substance from Camerimage in response to recent remarks by festival director MarekŻydowicz about representation of female filmmakers.

The Polish cinematography festival kicks off on Saturday and Fargeat’s film had been scheduled to screen on Sunday afternoon with cinematographer Benjamin Kračun in attendance. Kračun will now not attend, just as Steve McQueen said earlier this week he will stay away from the opening night presentation of his film Blitz, which will go ahead,

On Friday Fargeat and Kračun issued a statement to Screen that read: “After discovering the highly misogynistic and offensive...

The lineup has been set for Contenders Film: Los Angeles, Deadline’s signature movie awards-season event. The showcase, which will take place Saturday, November 16 in Hollywood at the DGA Theater, features a star-studded lineup of actors and filmmakers behind 21 Oscar-hopeful films that have premiered this year, many first seen at festivals like Sundance, Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto.

Deadline’s Contenders is an opportunity, as always, as a one-stop shop for awards voters to experience the story of acclaimed films up close and personal, highlighting what has brought the stars and creatives and their movies to this moment. The all-day event begins with a breakfast at 7:30 a.m. before panels start at 8:30 a.m.

Click to RSVP for either attending in person or via livestream.

From the Sundance Film Festival in January the spotlight will be on Magnolia Pictures’ Thelma, with the remarkable 95-year-old star June Squibb on hand with her film.

In the spring of 2023, about 18 months after a live bullet passed through cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ chest and lodged in writer-director Joel Souza’s shoulder during the making of Rust, Souza was back on the set of the indie Western, waiting to call action. He and his crew were setting up a crane shot of two characters riding horses through the snow in a picturesque river valley in southern Montana, and Souza paused to make some remarks. “I remember saying that it would annoy Halyna that we were standing around not shooting, so let’s go shoot,” Souza says. “As soon as that first shot finished, I’m like, ‘Oh yeah, this is making movies. This is the part I know. This part makes sense.’ ”

Very little else had made sense since Oct. 21, 2021, the day the Colt revolver held by Alec Baldwin discharged the bullet that killed Hutchins, 42, launching a criminal investigation,...

Updated As Camerimage, a leading cinematography festival, gets ready to open on Friday, Women in Cinematography, a body that presses for better representation for women DPs, has called for significant changes to the festival, which will this year host the world premiere of “Rust.”

The demands are a response to a heated dispute over a column by Marek Żydowicz, the festival director, in Cinematography World magazine, that provoked allegations of misogyny.

In the column, Żydowicz seemed to suggest that the selection in the program of more female cinematographers and directors could lead to the inclusion of “mediocre film productions” at the expense of “works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements.”

He posed the question: “Should we reject what is esteemed and valuable just to ‘make space’ for the necessity of social change?” He went on to argue: “Whilst festivals like Cannes, Berlin or Venice are criticized for their selections due...

Women in Cinematography — the popular and influential group that represents women cinematographers across the globe — has become the latest industry organization to publicly criticize Camerimage Film Festival head Marek Żydowicz for comments he made last week in a magazine op-ed.

In the article titled ‘Time for Solidarity’, published in the craft magazine Cinematography World, Żydowicz outlined the path he believes the cinematography-focused festival can take as the wider film industry continues to change at speed. The greatest change, Żydowicz hypothesized, was the growing prominence of women cinematographers and directors. The thesis of Żydowicz’s article, however, was quickly denounced by industry professionals and unions who said it was sexist.

In one of the first public statements to criticize the article, the British Society of Cinematographers said Żydowicz’s words represented an “outdated notion of male superiority in the field and equate fairer gender representation with a drop in artistic values.

by Eurocheese

I have to admit that on the last day of AFI Fest, I was not particularly excited to see a boxing film. Oscar seems to have an affinity for the topic, but sports films in general don't resonate with me. Shame on me for underestimating Barry Jenkins as a screenwriter and for not having higher hopes for cinematographer Rachel Morrison’s directorial debut. The Fire Inside, much like its protagonist, proves itself again and again: It’s a compelling, smart drama with a scope that stretches far beyond the game.

The film is based on the true story of Claressa Shields who overcame obstacles all her life in Flint, Michigan on her way to becoming an Olympian...